


Puella Magi Hiro Magica ❙魔法少女ヒロ☆マギカ❙

by tonedeaf



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Magical Girls, Puella Magi Madoka Magica AU, Tadashi Lives, [mostly abandoned but I may come back to tie things up at some point]
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-02-28 12:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2731907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonedeaf/pseuds/tonedeaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiro's been acting strange since the fire, constantly disappearing and distancing himself from everyone, and Tadashi can't for the life of him figure out why. It doesn't help that his little brother has suddenly gotten increasingly good at covering his tracks.</p><p>When he and their friends do accidentally find out his secret, however, they're in for quite the shock as they're thrust unwillingly into Hiro's new life, and into a strange and impossible world that secretly coexists with their own. But even that is the least of their worries once they realize that another strange path awaits them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Boy in the Dream ❙夢の中の少年❙

           The Hall was rapidly burning up in an incredible inferno. People were scattered about, rushing away as fast as their legs could carry them, only some stopping to help others who had fallen, or who were simply in shock and incapable of movement without prompting. The sound of the building slowly collapsing piece by piece and the screams and shouts of hundreds filled the air with an almost physical intensity.

 

          Tadashi rushes towards it, gently grabbing the first person he sees and checking her over.

 

          "Are you all right?"

 

          She tries to catch her breath, glancing up at him as she struggles to find her thoughts in the chaos of the moment.

 

          "Yes, but Professor Callaghan is still inside!"

 

          She shakes him off and in another second she is gone, running to safety. Tadashi barely hesitates before turning back to the hall, running toward it with a new urgency.

 

          He feels something pull at him and stops short. He turns, and he's confronted with the horrified stare of his younger brother.

 

          "Tadashi, _no_! You can't go in there!"

 

          His voice is stern, but his face betrays him. Hiro is clearly terrified and desperate to keep his brother away from the fire.

 

          Tadashi struggles, and for just a moment, he considers remaining outside.

 

          He quickly defaults.

 

          "Someone has to help!"

 

          He pulls his arm free, and he's off, running full speed up the stairs as Hiro screams for him to stop. The fire is rapidly getting closer, and he feels the heat of it all, intensifying with each step he takes. Breathing is quickly becoming harder, and his eyes are burning from the light, and the heat, _oh God_ , the _heat_.

 

          The fire burns loudly and ferociously, the beginnings of an explosion from further within is suddenly all too clear, Hiro yells something unintelligible from somewhere behind, and for the briefest of moments, Tadashi thinks-

 

 

 

          " _I'm going to die_."

 

 

 

 

 

 

          But he doesn't.

 

 

 

 

 

 

          The very next thing Tadashi can remember is laying on the steps he had only just run up seconds before. Slowly and blearily, his mind barely picks up a presence somewhere close, and his head twitches, turning carefully to look at where he had been standing with Hiro before.

 

          Tadashi was somehow alive after running full speed into a blaze that surely would have and should have killed him,

 

          And his brother was standing before it with a strange, white animal, and wearing the most peculiar outfit he had ever seen.

 

          …

 

          An alarm clock sounds, and Tadashi wakes up from the same dream he's had nearly every night since the fire.

          He shifts in his bed, turning to look at Hiro. His brother is just starting to stir from his own sleep, and the elder chalks it up to post-traumatic stress from the incident, as he has every morning after the dream.

          There's no time for this; they have to get ready for school.

 

* * *

 

           Tadashi Hamada was a lot of things.

           Smart, talented, kind, generous…

           Right now, though, he only felt helplessly confused.

           With a - admittedly impressive - loud 'plink!' he starts from his thoughts, quickly inspecting his surroundings until he reaches the smug look on Gogo's face. He raises an eyebrow challengingly at her and retrieves the pencil she had launched at the side of his head.

           "What was that for?" He casually tosses it back to her. She easily catches it, popping her gum.

           "You're acting weirder than usual lately."

           "Yeah? How so?"

           "Well, for one, you keep staring at Hiro." She pops her gum again and glances over at Hiro, who is busily working on a project on the other side of the room. "It's kinda creepy."

           "What? No, I'm not-!" he's cut off when she makes a face, shutting his protest down in an instant, and he sighs tiredly.

           "Hiro, he's…"

           Tadashi trails off, unsure of how exactly to describe what he's been seeing. Gogo lets a couple of seconds pass in an awkward silence, then raises her brow and tilts her head forward, indicating he should continue. He tries to gather his thoughts into a coherent stream.

           "Hiro's been acting different; not at all like his usual self."

           "How?"

           "He seems…just, really distant the past couple of months. I feel like he's really stressing out over something, but he keeps denying it whenever I ask." He looks back up to meet her gaze, silently asking if she could have an answer.

           "A couple of months ago was when the fire happened — he could still be stressed about that," she offers, shrugging. He looks down at his hands again and shakes his head in frustration.

           "I know it could be that, but I-… Hiro's _always_ come to me about these things! We've always been able to talk about them, but he hasn't once since the fire, and…"

           "…And?"

           "…He keeps disappearing lately, too."

           Gogo lets out a huff, trying not to laugh. "Bot-fighting?"

           "No. No, I don't think it's that. I know when Hiro's been bot-fighting — he gets cocky and acts all high-and-mighty. That's not him right now, and he's almost never even in that area anymore."

           "Tadashi, we've been through this — the whole GPS trackers in Hiro's jackets is _super_ weird."

           "Yeah, yeah," he rolls his eyes, "but come on, it comes in handy!"

           "Okay, yeah, sure," she says, sarcasm dripping heavily off of every word.

           "Look, the point is that I'm getting _really_ worried about him."

           "Alright, well listen," she leans in and looks him straight in the eyes, "Hiro lost all of his microbots in the fire. He worked really hard on those, and all of it went up in flames, and it doesn't really matter that Hiro's this super genius already in college — something like that can be pretty hard on a kid."

           She leans back and waits for a response, getting one in a pause and a low sigh from her friend.

           "Yeah, I guess, but…"

           Gogo groans and brings a hand up to her head.

           "Look, if you're that worried that something bad's going on, we can all just keep an eye on him for a while. I'm sure the others would be fine with following him around a bit and keeping him out of trouble."

* * *

 

          Hiro Hamada could not seem to catch a break. Tadashi hanging around him at every possible moment, no matter how much Hiro insisted that he was fine was bad enough.

          Now, it seemed like everyone else in their group had caught the crazy. Every second of the day, there was at least one or two of them creeping over or following him, and he hadn't gotten a single spare moment to himself in nearly a full week. It was _exhausting_! Not to mention he could barely focus on his robotics work with them bothering him all the time, and he definitely couldn't go out to take care of his _other_ work…He just felt lucky that his friend wasn't mad at him for having to skip this whole week. Honestly, she deserved a prize for her understanding.

          Currently, he was silently ruminating on his frustrations in the background as his brother and their friends chatted light-heartedly and aimlessly, walking along casually to the Lucky Cat after another long day of schooling and suffocating Hiro. He could feel Tadashi's gaze on him, as he had been feeling constantly for the past two-and-a-half months, and to be perfectly honest with himself, he was truly starting to feel his patience fray and wondered if maybe he was going to finally crack soon.

          Unfortunately for him, his luck, or lack thereof, and the next few moments indicated that perhaps it would have to happen right about now.

          The increasingly loud debate between Fred and Wasabi over something Hiro was decidedly not paying any attention to was brought to a sudden interruption with the arrival of an absolute mess of colors erupting around them.

          "Whoa man, what in the _world_...!" Wasabi was scared into stillness at once, cemented in his place as he turned his head around to take in the chaos around them.

          " _Dude_!" Fred was, on the other hand, in awe and excited at this new development.

           Hiro turned at the sound of movement, and was greeted with Tadashi beginning to wrap his arms around him protectively out of habit. The rest of the group began to follow suit and drew closer to each other, forming an increasingly tight huddle. Gogo was almost glaring at the array of colors and textures that swirled around them, Honey gazing in a sort of terrified wonder as she stood next to her, arms wrapped around her friend's own.

           Meanwhile, Hiro quickly took down a mental note about each and every little thing that was there, his hand instinctively moving to a ring on his left middle finger. His thoughts raced, and he wondered if he should engage it now or wait until it became absolutely necessary. The latter was quickly becoming the better option as he spotted small creatures, made of what looked very much like large cookies with colorful party hats and arms made of licorice, and heading directly toward them. He could feel Tadashi's arms tighten, heard Wasabi and Honey Lemon shriek, and that was it — he had to go _now_ or else risk them getting hurt or otherwise trapped.

 

           He pressed his hand onto the ring and began to focus.

 

           A shrill 'shing!' sounded, breaking his concentration, and one of the creatures shrieked and dissolved into thin air as a spear-like object pierced it, sticking into the ground beneath and it's fellow monsters jumping back in surprise. Hiro let out a relieved sigh and began to smile, even as his brother and friends panicked further.

           " _Back_! Back it up! _Get_!"

           A teenage girl rushed onto the scene, waving a strange, bright light that emanated from a jewel in her hand at the remaining monsters, sending them skittering away, the awful chaos gradually dissipating as they left. She turned to grasp the spear, and it instantly began to dissolve into a light much like the one she held.

           She spun around playfully and laughed lightly, beaming at the group as the light dimmed and the jewel dissolved as well.

           "Hiro! Nice of you to finally join me!"

           Hiro laughed and shook himself free of Tadashi's arms, wiggling his way through the others to jog over to the girl.

           "Kii, am I glad to see you!" He threw his arms around her as she did the same, squeezing him tightly and lifting him from the ground in a big hug to twirl around as they joyfully laughed.

           Tadashi didn't even know where to begin.

           "...Hiro...?"

           His brother and the stranger seemed to suddenly remember their presence and stopped, their smiles falling and the girl placing him back onto his feet. They worriedly looked at each other for a moment, before turning back to the group.

           "Hey...so, uh..." Hiro kicked the ground nervously, glancing around for a moment before reluctantly meeting his brother's stare.

           "Uh...well, this is Kii," he gestures to the girl, who waved and gave a shy smile.

           "Hi!"

           "So, she's my friend...and, uh...we sorta..." he waves his hands helplessly and shrugs as he tries to break the news gently,

  

 

          "...fight monsters together..."


	2. Born From a Curse ❙呪いから生まれた❙

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally, I recommend listening to songs off of the PMMM OSTs whilst reading this story!

          Those few silent seconds passed in what seemed like an eternity.

 

          Hiro thought he could see a tumbleweed blow by in his peripheral.

 

          "...Hiro... _What_ is going on here? What was all that- I have absolutely no idea what's happening right now!"

          Tadashi runs a hand through his hair, breath beginning to speed up as he starts pacing and seemingly trying to look everywhere at once, his eyes once more landing on his brother. Hiro is equally distressed, almost mimicking Tadashi's movements perfectly in an entertaining display of their brotherly bond, and desperately trying to avoid his gaze as long as he can.

          "Look- Okay, I know this is all _very_ confusing, and- and I totally get that! I..." Hiro forces his eyes upward, much like a small child being caught drawing on the walls by a parent, slowly inching his way backward and waving in the direction the monsters left, "Tadashi- everyone...I promise I'll explain everything, but...Look, _later,_  not right now; Kii and I have to go after her! It's...it's sorta our job now."

          Hiro looks almost ashamed at this admission, looking firmly at the ground and beginning to turn away from the group, glancing up at Kii for help. She shrugs and grimaces sympathetically.

          "We could still still catch up to her if we go now," she offers quietly, and Hiro thinks she looks like she'd rather be anywhere but here, attempting to stay out of this very personal situation as best as she can manage. He doesn't blame her; he'd rather not be here either.

          "I...I gotta go right now," he takes a chance and looks back over at the group, who are still _very_ confused and _very_ much trying to piece together what's currently happening before them.

          "I'll be home later to explain everything. Kii, let's go," he determinately turns to begin his race to catch their prey, when he feels a strong tug on his hand.

          "Hiro, wait," a stern voice commands, and he is once again faced with his big brother.

          "I don't know what those things were, or who this is," he nods his head to Kii, "or what you mean by 'job', but...look, I'm not letting you go alone. I'm going with you."

          He wants to say no, absolutely not, but Hiro knows it would just be a waste of precious time. Tadashi wasn't going to budge, and he and Kii still had a duty to fulfill. He sighs dramatically in exasperation.

          "Alright, _fine_ ," he takes on a stern expression of his own, "just keep up and _stay_. _Close_. Kii and I know what we're doing, but it's dangerous for you. Don't go off _anywhere_ on your own, you here me?"

          Tadashi nods, "Alright."

          "Um..."

          Hiro and Tadashi break out of their moment and remember their friends. They're all looking their own forms of worried - or determination, in Gogo's case.

          All except Fred, of course, who is looking positively ecstatic and bouncing on his heels.

          "I wanna go too! Man, this is too cool - friends with an _actual superhero_!" he almost squeals in delight, "Dude, you gotta let me come watch!"

          "I'm going too." Gogo steps forward. "If you're going, I'm going. _Someone's_ gotta keep you knuckleheads out of trouble."

          "I-...This is _not_ a good idea!" Wasabi paces back and forth, holding the sides of his head in his hands, "but I-...Okay. Okay, we'll _all_ go. Why not?! Because if some of us are heading into certain death, why not all of us?!" It's clear Wasabi is being sarcastic for the most part, but there is also serious worry in him, and it's apparent that they're all in this together.

          Honey pauses, and then shrugs, giving a small, semi-confident smile.

          "Could be fun, yeah?"

          Kii turns to Hiro.

          "You sure you still wanna go? I can always get her myself - I've been able to handle it this whole week," she looks meaningfully at him and places and gentle hand on his shoulder, "I don't wanna put anyone in danger, Hiro. I'll go by myself and bring back a grief seed for both of us." He shakes his head and squeezes her hand.

          "No. I haven't been any help this week, and you shouldn't have to go alone. We're a team, and that means both of us, remember?" He smiles encouragingly. "I'll keep an eye on them and keep them out of the way, but I'm going with you this time, alright?"

          She smiles after a moment and summons her strange jewel again, the light emanating in a peculiar way to show a pattern swirling around it, much like the chaotic environment from before.

          "Well, let's go, then!" She runs off, Hiro and the others following quickly behind.

* * *

          ... 

         They ran for a good few minutes, occasionally stopping for a moment to catch their breath, before finally slowing down in front of a large park, heading toward a more heavily wooded area. She looks down at her light, the pattern swirling around it quicker and noticeably larger than before.

          "She's here; the entrance should be right up ahead."

          They continue walking in tense silence, entering the woods quietly. Hiro and Kii keep looking around them - for some sort of sign of whatever it is they've been following, Tadashi assumes. He soon spots some flicker of light further up ahead, and the girl seems to spot it too.

          "Hiro, up here," she nods, and they all come to a stop in front of it.

          Tadashi thinks it looks like a small door of sorts - a patch of lights and patterns housed in the large trunk of a tree. It's beautiful and hypnotizing, but also dreadfully frightening, and he notes what seems to be a ball with a needle running through it sticking out at the top of the patch.

          "We're in luck - she hasn't hatched yet," she observes.

          Hiro nods, frowning, "But it doesn't look like that's gonna last long." Kii looks over with a half smile.

          "Since it's your first hunt in a week, wanna lead this one?" He grins back at her, puffing out his chest a bit.

          "Sounds good," he loses his smile when he looks back at his group, "You guys may wanna hold hands as we go through. Labyrinths can get pretty tricky, and entering one is...kinda weird-feeling. Kii, head up the back?"

          She nods, moving to take her place behind Wasabi, who stands at the back, looking more nervous by the second. He very willingly grasps her hand with one of his own, grabbing Fred's with the other, who takes Honey Lemon's hand, who takes Gogo's, who takes Tadashi's, who takes Hiro's up in front. Hiro swallows, clearly nervous, and nods to himself.

          "Let's go."

          He leads them slowly and gently, stepping through the entrance and pulling their line through one at a time, and before they even realize it, they're standing in an expanse of the messy and bright world that had surrounded them before. Tadashi sees how his brother looks ahead with purpose and a newfound confidence.

          "She's up straight ahead; I can feel it." The environment seemed to shift, feeling even more ominous.

          "She's gonna hatch soon, we have to hurry," he hears from his brother's strange companion.

          "Keep up, guys." Hiro begins moving forward briskly, and Tadashi wonders as he hangs onto his hand and matches his pace just what exactly they mean by what they've been saying.

 

          'She'? Is the source of all of this a person? Who would have the ability to create something like this, and why? What on Earth could they possibly mean by 'hatch'?

 

          Tadashi could tell he was about to find out.

 

          They stopped short in front of a giant dining room table, a silver platter placed in the middle, on top of an elaborate table runner. The platter cover quivered and shook, before suddenly flying off all by itself, revealing a sphere that looked like the pin-like object that he saw at the entrance, pulsing with light and energy.

          "Here we go!" Hiro shouted, lifting his free arm to shield his eyes from the incredible light that burst from the sphere as it shattered, the intense sound of breaking glass nearly making them fall over with it's force.

 

          When the light finally died down, they looked up and were met with an enormous room, buzzing with activity. It looked like a huge ballroom one might find in a castle, another long dining table running through the middle with dozens, perhaps a hundred platters in front of each tall chair. Many monsters like the ones from before skittered to and fro, some buzzing through the air with brightly-colored butterfly wings. A giant chandelier hung from above, swaying precariously, the crystals chiming with each movement, and at the head of the table across this room, sat a most peculiar and terrifying creature.

          Tadashi didn't even want to look directly at it.

          The creature was huge, like her room, seated in the biggest seat - no, more of a royal throne. She was seemingly made of a vast array of regal clothing and desserts, her many arms lazily swaying about to command her fleet of creatures around the room. It hurt his eyes to look at such a combination of different colors and patterns, and Tadashi finally had to look away before his eyes could further water with strain, and instead directed his eyes to his brother, who now stood strongly in front, his friend marching up to join him at his side. He couldn't understand how they could possibly stand to stare this...this _nightmare_  down.

          "Hiro!" He and Kii locked gazes, and he nodded once.

          "Right!"

          They held out their left hands, the strange egg-shaped jewel appearing in each. Tadashi couldn't help but note how each had their own colors shining from them - whereas the girl's had always been a sort of periwinkle-violet color, Hiro's shone with a bright red, like his favorite shirt. Before he could observe them further, the gems burst with light, not unlike the blinding one he had seen before when the sphere had shattered and transported them to this room, and he had to cover his eyes once more.

 

          "Puella Magi - SanFran Duet!"

 

          He opened his eyes at the shout, and paused, staring at them for what he felt like was forever.

          Before him stood the two, each wearing their own strange ensembles that matched their gems in color-scheme, and Tadashi had to rub his eyes and look again to be sure that he wasn't just seeing things.

          Kii looked almost like one of those ninja-themed magical girls from some anime or another he had seen before in passing. A large pooufy black dress with lace peeking out from beneath fluttered in a sort of breeze that Tadashi could not feel, a corset of purples wrapped around her waist and a large scarf to match it, tied into a bow behind her head. In her hands, she held the spear - or was it technically a glaive? - from when she had saved them before.

          Hiro was wearing a dress of reds and whites, a sort of apron wrapped around him and coming together into a large bow in the back, and a cross-like gem sat gleaming with energy upon the knot. An old-fashioned nurses bonnet was secured atop his messy hair, and Tadashi had to shake his head to really be sure that he wasn't hallucinating from the stress of the new environment he was now trapped in.

          Hiro was wearing the very same costume Tadashi had seen in his dreams.

 

          ...What the _hell_.

 

          "How do you wanna do this?" Kii asks, gripping her weapon and not taking her eyes of of the massive beast. Hiro reaches beneath his skirt, pulling out an impossibly large bazooka from nowhere and holding it close in a battle-ready stance.

          "We'll tag-team it. I'll go first - guard them." She nods, backing up to get closer to the group, and holding out the glaive block them from going any further.

          "You see that over there?" she asks, nodding her head to a nearby pile of unused chairs and small tables.

          "...Yeah?" Wasabi squeeks, eager to go back to the safety of the real world.

          "Head over there and get behind them. I can shield you, but it'll help if you've also got something else to hide behind."

          "M'am, yes m'am!" Wasabi dashed over to dive behind the pile. He was soon followed by the others, though Fred and Tadashi were keen to stay standing to watch, each for clearly opposing reasons.

          She waves her glaive around in a large sweeping motion, and with it, a violet spread of light appears, stretching until it comes to a stop, covering the front of their makeshift bunker. Calmly, she walks over to stand in between them and the light for an extra layer of protection.

          "We're good, Hiro!"

          He glances over to be sure and nods, uncomfortably meeting Tadashi's eye for a moment, before forcing his eyes back ahead, readying himself and positioning his weapon onto his shoulder.

          "Hey witch! Over here!" he shouts out and taunts, getting the monster's attention. A ball of light forms at the bazooka's muzzle, gaining intensity as Hiro narrows his gaze.

          "Come and get it!"

          He pulls the trigger, and the ball of light shoots forward in a powerful beam, hitting the creature hard and sending it flying back off of her throne. They all hear a low rumble quickly turn into a hellish roar as it drags itself back up, and with what should be an impossible speed for something of it's size, it begins to swiftly crawl it's way to Hiro to give him a piece of it's mind. Tadashi is instantly sick with panic and moves out of instinct to rush toward him.

          "Tadashi-!" Honey reaches out to stop him.

          He barely makes a few steps before he feels the wind sharply knocked out of him. Dazed for a few moments, he catches his breath and holds his abdomen, finally feeling the shooting pain in his stomach. He looks up from his new place on the ground to see Kii, almost pouting down at him.

          "He told you to stay out of the way, dummy," she gently scolds, helping him back up and over to his previous spot. He thinks he can hear Fred snort with laughter and Gogo huff in amusement. "Sorry for whacking you like that, but I can't let you run off for anything - even for Hiro."

          He's about to argue and moves to get up, but another jolt of pain stops him, and he reluctantly settles back down, turning his attention back to the fight.

          Hiro is moving with surprising speed and grace, dodging the monster at each turn and blasting it with more bursts of light. As if gravity no longer has any meaning to him, he begins to jump high into the air, gliding - almost flying across the room to push off of the walls, aiding in his dodges and attacks.

          With another powerful blast, one of the many arms attached to it's awful body breaks off, flying toward the group. Bracing themselves, they are instead met with an electric crackling as it hits Kii's shield and goes no further. She stands protectively in front of them, strengthening the shield as the arm burns up and finally falls harmlessly to the ground.

          They spot Hiro gliding over to rejoin them, sliding to a stop and sharing a hand-slap with Kii, switching places with her. She's even quicker than Hiro, almost teleporting from spot to spot as she draws the monster away from them and Hiro sets up his own protection.

          Tadashi's eyes can barely keep up with her as she uses her speed to her advantage, spinning and twirling her glaive to slash at the large body, slicing of nearly all of its remaining arms off. She jumps out of the way and waits for a reaction, grimacing as the fallen arms begin to wriggle and squirm, attempting to reattach themselves to their body. From his new spot, Hiro quickly sends handful of blasts to the arms to help her, burning and jolting them into stillness. She makes quick work of them and slices them to pieces, sending a quick grin his way and beginning her work on the main body.

          With most of its arms gone, the body seems momentarily stunned and confused, aimlessly spinning and pacing around as Kii uses this to hack and slash, gradually cutting away the layers of clothing and sweets and weakening it. Soon enough, with another slash she pauses, and it seems like she's spotted something important. She looks excited as she turns to announce her findings.

          "Hiro, I think I've opened her main weak point!"

          "Where is it?" Almost shaking with eagerness to get this battle done and over with as quickly as possible, he seems to be readying himself to jump over to join her.

          Tadashi has to focus heavily to keep himself from reaching out and pulling his beloved little brother back to the safety of their huddled group. He's trying to trust them - really, he is - but it's increasingly difficult to fight against his most basic instincts to protect.

          "Her heart! I see it now!" Her glaive begins to pulse with energy and shift in shape. She smirks victoriously, "Ready to end this?"

          Hiro takes one last glance at his brother and friends to check on them, but it's barely another second before he's rushing to her aid, his own weapon beginning to change and shift. The two stand before the beast with a palpable confidence, and the others watch curiously as Kii spreads her arms, and dozens of copies of her weapon spring out from the original, shifting to become larger and sharper, and pointing directly at their target - the heart. The bazooka begins to grow in size, and Hiro only has to hold it from underneath, pointing it at the same target. It begins charging, and a giant ball of light grows and grows, until...

          "Pull!"

          The group quickly ducks down as first the glaives pierce the heart, then the beam is released, resulting in a large, loud, and powerful explosion that nearly wipes out their bunker of chairs and tables. The sounds of the attack echo for nearly half a minute, slowly but surely dying down into an eerie silence.

 

          ...

 

          Fred is the first to poke his head out and gasps, quickly growing awestruck as he notices the monster completely decimated, almost nonexistent and only mere traces of her left behind.

          "Oh man, oh man, oh _man_! That was so great, I can't even handle it!" He jumps out of their hiding place and runs over to meet the duo. Tadashi and Gogo are quick to follow, Honey staying behind to help Wasabi stand as he trembles in the aftermath of what they've just been through.

          "That...was _not_ okay. _Why_ did we come here again?"

          Before Fred or Tadashi can even say anything when they at last reach Hiro and Kii, they're interrupted by the quiet sound of breaking and clattering. Looking around for the source, they realize that the room itself is breaking apart with increasing speed. Rather than afraid, a calm descends over them all, and they can see the woods they entered from is quickly taking the place of the monster's world.

          The final remnants disintegrate, and Hiro and Kii tiredly high-five as they sit on the ground, regaining their composure and returning to their normal clothes.

          Tadashi almost begins to panic again when he spots the sphere-needle stuck into the ground. He jumps back in surprise, trying to stay away from it, but he stops as he hears his brother laugh in...relief?

          "Well, at least it wasn't for nothing," he says, leaning over and grabbing it like it were a mere toy.

          Before any questions can be asked, Hiro summons his gem from a ring on his finger, Kii doing the same, and curiously, they take turns holding the wicked needle to them. It appears that it is actually of use - their formerly dulling gems soon regain their brightness as the needle seems to suck the darkness out of them and into itself. Once they finish, the needle crumples, collapsing into itself, and Kii casually tosses it over her shoulder.

          "Kyubey, heads up."

          Out of the darkness, a white animal - was it some sort of cat? - with startling red eyes and an unmoving expression steps forward, catching the needle with the long, armlike ears protruding from a set of catlike ones, and brings it to a tear-shaped symbol on its back. To their horror, the symbol opens up, and the needle disappears into it before it closes up again. Hiro and Kii do not seem fazed in the slightest, as if this was completely normal. Well- who knew what was even normal again, after what they had just seen. This probably was normal to them.

          "That...was creepy as hell," Gogo states simply.

          The animal tilts its head somewhat, in a sort of greeting.

          "Good evening, Kii and Hiro," a small voice comes from it, though it's mouth does not move, and it looks around at the rest of them, "and friends."

          Tadashi already didn't like this...thing. Not in the least bit.

          "Alright," he starts, before anything else can have a chance to barge in on them, "you did your job. Now, time for my explanation." He looks meaningfully down at Hiro, who gazes guiltily back.

          "Yeah, yeah..." he starts to stand, helping Kii up with him, "Let's head home and you'll get the full story - I promise."

 

          Tadashi stares distrustfully at the animal as it hops up Hiro's body to sit on his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently seriously considering adding little images in each chapter once I get my new tablet in the mail. Wanna give your opinion on this possibility~?


	3. I'm Not Afraid of Anything Anymore ❙もう何も怖くない❙

 

           To be honest, Hiro really was intending to introduce Kii to Aunt Cass and Tadashi at some point.

          Not like this, though.

          _Never_ like this. Not even close.

 

          But here he found himself, sitting beside her in the long since closed for the night Lucky Cat Cafe, surrounded uncomfortably by his brother and their friends.

          There was plenty of room in the cafe, so really, why would they feel such a need to get as suffocatingly close to them as possible? Intimidation? Their own form of torture? Suffocation through increasingly close proximity?

          Well, at least if he died here, he wouldn't have to answer any questions.

          Kyubey remains still and calm, seemingly perfectly content with his spot atop Hiro's head. He could see Kii stiffen and shift in the corner of his eye.

          "So, uh...where should we start?" She half-smiles and rubs her arms in discomfort, glancing everywhere before her eyes land on Hiro, who shrugs and turns to Tadashi.

          "What do you wanna know first?"

 

          Tadashi leans back in his chair, directly across from Hiro.

          "The first thing..." he seems to consider this for a moment, looking down, before returning his gaze ahead, "...What happened before? When we were first walking home, and those things showed up?"

          "You unfortunately wandered into a Witch's Labyrinth," Kyubey answers, "However, you were lucky to have a Magical Girl with you, and a second one so close by to save you."

          "Aren't I technically a Magical _Boy_ , though? I mean, yeah, it's usually only girls and I'm stuck with a dress, but still..." Hiro interrupts and flicks at him. His current 'hat' leans over to look down at him.

          "Yes, I would suppose so, from your viewpoint, though you are the thus far the only boy I've encountered who has been able to contract with me. I would still say that you are, by our definition, a Magical Girl." Hiro groans and rolls his eyes.

          "This can't possibly get any more embarrassing..." He drops his head to the table with a low 'thunk', and Kyubey hops off, moving to sit in front of Kii.

          "Witch's Labyrinth? Magical Girls? I'm not understanding any of this," Tadashi rubs at his temples, looking around, "Am I the only one who's not getting this, or what?"

          "I- I don't get it either," Wasabi chimes in, shaking his head and spreading his hands out, "Is this whole Labyrinth thing some sort of other dimension? 'Cause it looked like an entirely different world."

          "Yeah, I guess saying it like that works," Kii muses, "I mean it is technically another plane of existence - the Witch's create them, and you can't see them unless you wander into one through an entrance."

          "Okay, okay, so what's a _Witch_?" Fred bounces in his seat, looking far too excited about this, and Honey trying her best to keep him still, "Is it some sort of monster? Like a  _super-villain_?"

          "A Witch is what we saw when we found her Labyrinth in the park, after she hatched," Hiro lifts his head to explain, laying his chin on the hard surface to keep low, "Witches are what Magical Girls fight as our duty, so yeah, a monster super-villain."

          Fred snorts, "Duty..."

          "Hatch...?"

          "Whereas Magical Girls are born from wishes, Witches are born from curses," Kyubey flicks his tail and goes on, "They take the form of Grief Seeds, which is what you saw before and after she was defeated. Grief Seeds are the 'eggs' of Witches -  a curse embodied. After a Witch is defeated, the Grief Seeds are very useful in cleansing the magic of a Magical Girl, through drawing any and all negative energy out of it and into itself."

          "Okay, so I get that so far," Gogo admits, gum popping, and Tadashi nods his agreement, "Now what the hell does Magical Girl even mean, and what do you mean by 'wishes'?"

          "To be a Magical Girl is to make a contract," Kyubey's tail flicks back and forth, "I can grant any one wish to a girl, or boy," he adds, glancing over at Hiro, with buries himself in his arms, "with some limitations, on the condition that you contract with me to become a Magical Girl and fight Witches!" The group sits up with this revelation.

          "A wish? Contracts?" Tadashi murmurs, staring at Hiro with new eyes.

          "Hiro...you signed up for this?" Honey Lemon is astounded, tilting her head and gazing at him in wonder.

          He pulls his arms back, only slightly, and looks up guiltily.

          "...Yeah. I did," he begins to sit up, "b-but it was totally my choice, okay? I knew what I was getting into, and I don't regret it, so...so don't worry too much about it, okay?" His brother shakes his head slowly, as if it would help gather his thoughts.

          "Hiro-"

          "So what was your wish, huh? What it something cool? Like- like-" Fred jumps in, trying to think of just one thing to wish for.

          "My wish," Hiro cuts off purposefully, gaze growing hard, "is for me to know, and for you to never find out."

          Fred pouts, "Awww, _man_ , that's so not a cool wish! What's so great that you wished for you to be the only one to know about it?" Hiro groans and Wasabi slaps his forehead.

          "That's not what he means, rocks-for-brains," Gogo shoves her palm against his head, "It means that he's not gonna tell us what he wished for." Fred rubs his head and widens his eyes in disappointment.

          "Aw man, really? Not even if I say please?" Hiro shakes his head.

          "Not for anything, _but_ ," he turns to look meaningfully at Tadashi, "I don't regret it at all, not even a little, so spare the lecture, alright?"

          "H-Hey, how 'bout some more backstory, yeah?" Kii cuts in, clearly feeling the atmosphere intensify between the brothers. She starts looking around hopefully, petting Kyubey with increased shakiness, and Hiro breaks his stare to look at someone else.

          "Yeah, more story!" Fred agrees, throwing a fist up into the air. Wasabi pinches the bridge of his nose.

          "There...is no way any of this is even happening. I'm gonna wake up soon, and this is all gonna be just a long messed-up dream. But, as long as I'm dreaming and we're actually talking about this, what even are you?" The question is directed at Kyubey, who leans further into Kii's hand and purrs.

          "I am an extraterrestrial being; I believe you humans also call us 'aliens'. I came to Earth in search of an answer to entropy."

          A pause hangs heavily in the air. Hiro and Kii quickly look away awkwardly, and Kyubey looks up, more disappointed with her ceasing petting than anything else.

          "...E-Entropy...The _heat death of the universe_? _That_ entropy?"

          "Yes, and I've found my answer here, with the Magical Girls."

          Tadashi thinks Wasabi is starting to turn physically sick with each question and answer.

          "...So... _how_ exactly does that work?" Honey scrunches her face in confusion, looking down at her palms, "I'm sorry, but I'm not getting the correlation. I mean, it's already impossible for magic to exist, but..." She jumps back as she notices that Kyubey is now directly in front of her.

          "Emotions are nonexistent for my kind, however, here on Earth, prepubescent girls, and boys," he sends another glance at Hiro, who rolls his eyes and hides his head again, "are at the height of emotional display. My kind has harnessed a way to use this, and with the bursts of emotion that comes from your kind, particularly the emotion that comes from making a wish, we have been able to stave off entropy. Magical Girls, and boys..."

          "Please stop."

          "...are saving the universe!"

          

 

 

          "...I don't get it."

          "Fred..."

          

          "...What are those?"

          All is once more quiet as attention is shifted to Tadashi, who points across to the two 'Magical Girls' in their company.

          "Those rings. Are they a part of this? I can't remember you having one before..." Subconsciously, Hiro's hand moves to touch his.

          "Yeah, they, uh, they sort of...store? Right?" He looks to Kii, who shrugs and nods. "Yeah, okay, they store our Soul Gems when we're not actually using them."

          Tadashi tilts his head and raises a brow in question, and Hiro coughs, remembering to explain.

          "Right! Right, so uh, Soul Gems," he seems to struggle, scrunching his face and staring down at the ring, gleaming back at him innocently.

          "They're what give us our magic," his partner cuts in, "They're the source of our power and allow us to transform and summon our weapons and magic. It's what makes us able to do what we do. It's part of the contract." She and Hiro seems to wince a little at the end, both sending a moment's rueful look toward Kyubey before refocusing on Tadashi.

          "And why are they called 'Soul Gems'? Where do they come from?" Gogo is suspicious, eyeing the small alien carefully.

          "They come from us. They embody the magic of each individual Magical Girl. We're all unique in our magical capability - I have my extra speed, Hiro has his increased ability to heal - but it's always centered in a Soul Gem," Kii is quick to explain, trying to ease the rising tension at the implications of such a name, "I don't know if Kyubey's race personally believes in the concept of souls, but since magic is unique for each of us, the name just makes sense." She shrugs, looking again at Kyubey. He merely silently scratches the back of his ear with a foot and stares back, unblinking.

          A minute passes with the speed of a dying slug, and Hiro finally thinks to look at the clock, startling himself and pushing his chair back with his feet.

          "It's pretty late, Kii; you should really go home." She looks at the time as well, jumping out of her seat.

          "Eesh! Yeah, I definitely need to be going," she grabs Kyubey by the scruff of his neck and raises him to her eye level, poking him on his nonexistent nose, "And you - _no_ sales pitches. We talked about this; I know that look."

          He chooses to shift his eyes away slyly. "I was merely considering that one of them may be interested."

          She shakes her head and places him on her shoulder, turning to apologetically smile, "I really need to head out. I'm sorry it had to happen this way, but it really was nice meeting you all! Hiro talks about you guys a lot!"

          They each give a goodbye in varying forms of emotion, and Hiro smiles enthusiastically.

          "See ya later!" He waves as she exits the shop and makes her way quickly down the street to vanish into the night, and he stands, inching his way backward toward the back, where the stairs leading up to their living space lay.

          "Hey, so I know it's been a weird night, and you probably got a lot more questions, but I'm pretty tired," he points a thumb to his destination, "so I'm gonna head up to bed. I'll see you guys at school tomorrow - G'night!"

          He's gone for a moment, before quickly returning, frowning.

          "And uh...I'm sure I don't need to tell you that this all needs to be a secret, right?" He gestures around him and at himself.

          Fred loudly stands tall, his chair falling back and startling everyone else, and salutes, "Your alter-ego is safe with me, little man!"

          Hiro laughs and smiles appreciatively, "Goodnight guys!"

 

          Tadashi waits a while, watching the area closely, until he finally hears Hiro's footsteps reach the floor above them and beyond, before turning to his friends.

          "I...I'm not really sure what to make of any of this," he sighs, taking off his hat and rubbing the back of his head.

          "I know, it's..." Honey Lemon looks up from the floor, "It's strange, but...but Hiro needs us, so we should do our best to get to know all of this and understand it."

          "I'm still firmly of the mindset that I am dreaming." Wasabi has been leaning back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling in a daze.

          Gogo pops her gum, breaking their trains of thought, and stands.

          "Yeah, well, if Hiro thinks he can handle it, I guess I'm willing to let it slide for now," she stops in her walk to the front door and thinks for a moment, "Or maybe I'm just _way_ too tired to deal with any of this, and that was _way_ too much information to take in. Whatever," she shrugs and continues on, pulling the door open and stepping outside.

          "You guys go home and get some sleep. We'll see you at school tomorrow," Tadashi walks his friends to the door, holding it open for the rest of them.

          "Dude, I am _so_ ready to be his sidekick! Just gotta get my own costume, and-"

          "Fred- _No_."

 

* * *

 

          "...Are you still mad at me?"

 

          Tadashi finishes what he was working on and looks over at his brother, who is still busily working on his own project.

          "What are you talking about? I'm not mad at you." Hiro snorts, but keeps his eyes on the motherboard he's been constructing.

          "Yeah you were. You were mad that I was keeping a secret and then you got mad when you found out that I've been out fighting evil in a dress with some girl."

          "Hiro," he sighs, "I wasn't _mad_ , I'm- and none of this is even about the dress, I don't care about that - I've been... so _worried_ , and now that I know what it is, I'm even _more_ worried, and- and-..." he lets out a low, frustrated groan, and Hiro stops working to spin his chair around and speak face-to-face.

          "Tadashi...I'm _okay_. I mean, yeah, it's a little dangerous, but...But hey - I've got _superpowers_ , and I've got _Kii_ \- and y'know, she's been doing this for a while - and I- Look, it's _fine_. I'm gonna be okay. _It's all fine_."

          He spins his chair back around and continues his work, and Tadashi knows the conversation is over, at least as far as his brother's concerned. They stay quiet for a while after that, and his mind wanders back to his work before it's broken again.

 

          "I'm going hunting with Kii tonight."

          "Again?"

          A huff. "Yes _again_. Witches don't just appear once a month, they're around all the time, and it's already been a week - normally we go out every couple of days, but it's been a little slow lately. Gotta keep my gem clean, y'know?"

 

          "...I'm going with you."

          A clatter of tools being dropped to the floor and a chair haphazardly whirling around and nearly tipping over.

          " _What_?"

 

 

* * *

 

          They walk in silence, save for the light clatter of their footsteps on the pavement, Kii's Soul Gem glowing brightly in the slowly growing darkness of the evening. Kyubey isn't there this time, and it's presumed he either has other business to attend to, or just wants to stay out of the way. Either way, Tadashi appreciates his lack of presence. He couldn't really put his finger on it, but something just didn't seem right about the little alien. None of this felt 'right', but he was saving his suspicions for if and when he found a solid basis for them. Hiro likely wouldn't allow him to accompany them on their hunts anymore, or talk to him about any of this at all if he just started accusing things left and right with little to no argument.

          Hiro summons his own Soul Gem to aid in their search, but seemingly disappointed when he looks down at it.

          "I'm not getting anything..." he says, and Kii sighs.

          "Yeah, me neither. I don't know...maybe we've got another girl in the area taking them down before we can get any."

          "You think so? We usually run into them and we haven't seen anything from anyone else."

          She shrugs, "I mean as far as I know, we're the only two in the immediate area, but it doesn't hurt to consider the possibility. I haven't seen an actual sign of another girl, but if there is, she could just be really sneaky."

          "Yeah, I guess..."

 

          "Wait, so," Tadashi starts, startling the two and reminding them of his presence, "...is there some sort of rivalry between you guys or something? Like... _gangs_ or...?"

          Hiro laughs, "Yeah, I guess you could say that. It isn't that bad, really, but most like to work on their own and there's a sort of unspoken rule about not working in another girl's turf."

          A pause. He thinks for a moment and realizes his mistake, turning to quickly rectify it at Tadashi's horrified expression, "N-Not that we get into turf-wars or anything! ...I mean...yeah, it _does_ happen sometimes- but it's not that common!"

          Kii is giggling heavily, nearly doubled over and wiping away a tear when Hiro glares annoyed at her. She takes a breath and calms herself.

          "It's okay, Tadashi, it's _not_ a gang and we're _not_ in any gang wars - I promise." She smiles at his clearly relieved sigh and his gradually relaxing posture, and as she turns to continue their walk, an odd glimmer in her Soul Gem stops her short.

          "...Huh," she looks up at Hiro, who is looking down at his own gem, confused.

          "...I think we've got somethin-"

 

          A loud flutter followed by a deafening and incredibly sickening crunching interrupts her, and they turn to be met by a most gruesome sight. Tadashi's hands instantly move to cover his mouth and he gags, whimpering lowly and tripping over himself to rush toward it, Hiro and Kii following at his heels.

          A young woman lays in a crumpled mess at the foot of the tall building they had just walked past. It's clear to see that she is hopelessly dead - her eyes blank and half-shut, a large splatter of blood quickly forming into a pool around her. Hiro thinks he can see some of her bones, broken clear through her paling skin and almost glowing white in the fluorescence of a nearby street lamp. He sees his brother shakily check her pulse, just in case, and then proceed to rush straight to the closest trash can, vomiting loudly.

          "Kii..." he looks over and sees her already on the case, crouched by the body's side and gently brushing back some of the woman's hair from her neck. It was seemingly blonde, almost white, but it's now filthy and growing duller by each passing second from the grime and gore that surround her broken body like a disgusting aura. She frowns and draws her hand back, wiping it on her side and standing back to her full height.

          "She has a Witch's Kiss - it should be somewhere in the building, or- ...Hiro, maybe your brother should go home..."

          He looks over and spots Tadashi wiping his mouth and eyes, and slowly steps toward him, hands up in a careful gesture.

          "Tadashi, you should really get out of here-"

 

          "Stop, just stop," he interrupts, shaking his head and grabbing Hiro's wrist, " _We_ are going home."

 

          " _Tadashi_ -! But I have to-!"

          "No 'but's Hiro, and you _definitely_ don't have to do anything! I've seen enough! This is- This is insane! This is _sick_!" He throws a hand out to point at the corpse. He shakes his head and tightens his grip on Hiro, turning on his heel and dragging his brother behind him. "You're not doing this anymore! You're not going out and seeing these- these monster-things anymore! You're coming home and that's _final_."

          Hiro is dragging his heels, slowing them down by force, and he rips his arms away, stepping backward and positively livid.

          " _You_ don't get to tell me what I'm gonna do!"

          "Hiro, I'm the older brother here, and when I say we're going home, _we're going home_!" He takes two steps forward.

          "You're my brother, but you're not my boss!" Two steps back, and a helpless flailing of hands. "This is my job now. _I_ made the contract, so now _I_ have to hold up my end of the bargain. I mean- I'm actually being responsible here, and you just wanna come in and control it, like you always do!" He's standing tall now, easily sidestepping his brother and shaking his head firmly.

 

          "Go home, Tadashi. You don't get to decide my life anymore."

          "Hiro-!"

          Hiro is already leaving, quickly transforming and jumping to the nearest platform, making his way up and up and disappearing into the night.

 

          They watch him leave. After a few seconds of Hiro nowhere to be seen, Kii slowly turns to look sheepishly up at the elder.

          "I'll walk you home and then go get him."

          He shakes his head, "I'm getting him myself." She frowns further, getting frustrated.

          "You're not gonna be able to. At least with my magic I'm on equal footing with him. Please, just trust me on this - you won't be able to keep up. First I'm gonna make sure you get home safe, and then _I'm_ going to go find him. Let's go."

          She begins walking back in the direction of their home.

          He's still for a moment, before glancing over at the direction his brother went and reluctantly following her, hatching a plan of his own.

 

          She watches him open the door, and for a tense second, they hold eye contact. She breaks it first, guiltily looking away and starting back.

          "I'll bring him back when we're done."

          He watches her walk a few steps before transforming and speedily jumping away to catch up to Hiro, and he heads to the garage.

 

* * *

 

 

          "...Hiro?"

          She finds him sitting, untransformed, on the edge of the rooftop the woman fell from, and catches him watching his Soul Gem, now swirling with a noticeably increased darkness in the normally bright red. It almost looks like it's getting darker as she watches it.

          "I just wish he'd stop treating me like a little kid," he breaks his stare, glancing up at her.

          "I just...I wish he'd understand. I know what I'm doing... I'm not _afraid_."

          Kii smiles lightly in empathy, and gently takes his hand. He transforms again, the Soul Gem vanishing to take it's place on his bow.

          "Come on, we wouldn't want that getting too dark, would we?"

          They're about to head inside the building when they hear the scuttle of a creature moving nearby. They grimace and summon their weapons, heading into the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tadashi ain't trustin' anyone
> 
> but who can really blame him?
> 
> ...also is it time to change the rating or...? You know what, I'm just gonna change the rating now.


	4. This Can't Be Right...  ❙こんなの絶対おかしいよ...❙

 

          "I can't believe it got away..."

          A pebble is kicked away with enough force to send it pinging loudly into a lamppost, and the sound echoes in the eerie silence of the late night. Following it are two shadows, trailing smoothly along the sidewalk of the normally lively city street. There wasn't a soul to be seen, save for the occasional night owl that was spotted now and then, often noticeably drunk and doing their damned best to make their way home in the pitch black of these very early morning hours.

          "Don't beat yourself up; it was a big one, and sometimes they just get away. We'll get it tomorrow night for sure." Another pebble is kicked, this time with less anger than it's earlier brethren.

          "Yeah, I guess."

          The two continue on in a companionable quiet, coming to a stop the next street over, in front of a large building, lights long since turned off for the night.

          "Wanna just stay over? I mean, it's already pretty late, and you'd have to walk all the way across town..." Hiro takes out his keys and unlocked the door with care, eyes flicking up to his friend.

          "I don't want to impose," she smiles tiredly, already starting to turn in the direction of her home.

          "C'mon," he gently tugs her arm until she reluctantly follows him inside. "You can have my bed."

          "I'm fine with the couch, Hiro."

          "Nope! You're the guest - you get the bed."

          Kii pauses, mouth tugging up into a sly grin. "What's wrong? Don't want your aunt to see me and ask why a _girl_ spent the night?" She stretches the word 'girl' into an obnoxious implication, and Hiro turns a satisfying shade of red, in her opinion, visible even in near-total darkness.

          "Wh- No! I mean-! ...K-Kii!" He splutters and attempts, unsuccessfully, to regain his composure, and she laughs quietly, covering her mouth and patting him roughly on the back as they begin ascending the stairs up to the third floor.

          "Ah c'mon, I'm just teasing. Now what about your brother? Doesn't he share the room with you?" She follows closely behind, to save on volume, and drops her voice further when they reach the final steps.

          "There's a divider," he explains, tiptoeing into his room and pointing it out. "I'll get up a little earlier than normal so we can sneak you out." He ushers her past him to his bed and begins to back out carefully.

          The two whisper their goodnights, and Hiro begins to descend the stairs back to the second floor living room...and nearly jumps out of his skin when he bumps into another body.

          "Ah-!" A hand quickly covers his mouth and sends him into a panic.

          They struggle for a few moments, tripping and toppling over each other, and almost tipping completely over to fall straight down the remaining stairs. Hiro gets in a few hard pushes and slaps before the two spring apart at the last step, and he finally gets a moment to refocus his eyes and realize that it's only his brother. Heart still pounding, he has to actively remind himself to keep his voice down.

          "Tadashi! What are you doing?" He waves his arms around, feeling simultaneous guilt and amusement when he accidentally hits him again. Tadashi rubs his face and shakes his head.

          "Going up to bed, what are you- Are you _just_ getting in?" His head whips around to look at the time. "It's nearly _three in the morning_ , Hiro, are you crazy?"

          "I should be asking _you_ the same thing, Mr. Always-Go-To-Bed-On-Time!"

          His brother sighs, running a hand down his face.

          "Okay, alright, fair enough - I was working on something in the garage. Your turn."

          He crosses his arms in that annoyingly father-like fashion that Hiro's always hated.

          "You _know_ what I was doing," he steps around him to make a beeline to the couch, "but I'm sure you'll be happy to know that it didn't even matter because it got away."

          "Then you should have been back earlier."

          Tadashi stays in his spot, continuing to eye his little brother sternly. Hiro doesn't even bother to meet his gaze, instead using the opportunity to flop onto his temporary bed and shift around until he's comfortable.

          "...Why are you- Are you really sleeping on the couch to so you can avoid me?"

          "What- _No_ , don't be a dumb. It's late, so I'm making Kii stay over." Hiro relaxes into the cushions and yawns, "Don't bother her; I'll get her out of here in the morning."

          "...Oh. That...that was nice of you," Tadashi's annoyance completely evaporates, a sort of prideful feeling taking it's place, and he awkwardly shifts his weight from one foot to the other, glancing back and forth from the stairs to Hiro. "...Goodnight, then, I guess."

          Hiro sends him an exasperated grimace and turns to face the inside of the couch with a tired sigh.

          "Goodnight."

          

          Tadashi climbs the stairs, careful to not disturb his aunt any more than he and Hiro may have already, and creeps gently into his room. Sparing a glance toward the still figure underneath his brother's blanket, he pauses for a moment.

          "...Thanks...for bringing him back," he whispers lowly, barely a breath above complete silence, and slowly changes his clothes.

          He crawls into his own bed and closes his eyes, hoping to fall asleep as soon as possible.

 

 

          "...You're welcome."

 

* * *

 

 

          Hiro avoids him the entire morning and well into the afternoon. When Tadashi had woken up, he looked over to see he was alone, the other bed made neatly - no doubt the girl's own work, heaven knew his brother would have never done that - and went downstairs only to be informed by his aunt that Hiro had left for school without him much earlier.

          He walks into the lab he shares with his brother and friends to drop off some things and maybe get an hour's worth of work done, but still sees no sign of him. Gogo, mostly focused on her bike, half-heartedly reminds him that Hiro had a couple of classes today, and he supposes that this is a good thing, them both having time away from each other to cool down and gather their thoughts.

          It's when the afternoon is nearly through that Tadashi's frustration begins to make a comeback. In the early evening, Hiro's classes should have been done long before, and normally he could be seen practically glued to his workspace for the remainder of the day, but today is different. He hopes he isn't out hunting again already, but knows that in all likelihood, he probably is.

          Well, that or just off somewhere continuing his childish brooding. Or maybe even both.

          He spots Wasabi and Honey Lemon walk in, returning from a shared class of their own.

          "Hey, have you guys seen Hiro around?" They look at each other, surprised.

          "No," Honey answers, "I haven't seen him since this morning when he went to class."

          "We thought he was here this whole time," Wasabi adds. Tadashi groans, and Honey has a renewed look of worry spreading across her face.

          "Have you two been arguing? I thought he seemed upset about something, and if he's not here..." she trails off, looking to him with some hope that it's not the case.

          "I...Yeah, sort of," he admits, rubbing his his temples, "We...I went with him on his little patrol last night, and...ugh." He feels a shudder and some residual nausea violently run through him as he relives the previous night's events.

          "Long story short, I didn't like what I was seeing, I told him I didn't want him doing this anymore, and he got mad and ran off."

          "Oh, that's awful!" She gasps, "Did he come home?"

          "Yeah, eventually," his eyes roll, " _Really_ late, but he did come home. He left without me this morning."

          "What exactly happened last night that got you all mad?" Wasabi asks, already leaning back and knowing that he's not going to like what he hears, and Tadashi looks at him apologetically.

          "We...They were getting some weird 'reading' I guess, and...and someone fell."

          "...Fell?"

          "I..." he shudders again, "Someone fell from the roof of a building, and...yeah..."

          His friends all look at him, Gogo and Fred immediately stopping what they were doing, horrified, and Wasabi begins gagging, leaning on his knees and trying not to fall over. Even Fred, though almost always having at least something to say, seems brought to the same stunned silence as his friends.

          " _Dude_ , that's...whoa, man..."

          "...T-Tadashi..." Honey's normally wide eyes are even wider than ever, in pure disbelief. He has to turn away, unable to look straight at them.

          "Yeah. And that girl, she looked at the body and said something like it has to do with those things they fight, and Hiro barely even flinched, a-and...what if he sees this all the time? What if this is normal for them? I can't- I can't let him keep doing this if this is what actually happens!" He turns around to walk back to his room. "But that's why I've got a plan now."

          One by one, they all follow, and he brings up a holographic screen, presenting them with various designs for what looks like different robotic parts. Out of a duffle bag sitting on the floor, he pulls out some of the finalized parts, still somewhat incomplete.

          "Your plan...is to build another robot..." Gogo tears her eyes away from the schematics to look him over, seemingly trying to get a better judgement at his mental stability, and he rolls his eyes.

          "No, not exactly."

          "Then..." Wasabi waves his hands around, "...what? 'Cause I'm not really getting any of this here, man."

 

* * *

 

 

          "You can't avoid him forever, y'know."

          "Yeah, well right now it's kind of awkward trying to work in the same room when he's trying to mess up my other job."

          "I'm just saying, it might be better to just sit down and talk about it. Explain things so that he actually gets it."

          Hiro swings his bazooka like a giant bat, sending a familiar flying off and crashing into the furthest walls of the labyrinth.

          "As much as I normally trust you, I don't think that's gonna work."

          Another familiar rushes them. Kii quickly spins her glaive, and like a plane's propeller, it shreds the mini beast into pieces.

          "Then what do you plan to do, exactly?"

          "...I...don't know yet- Don't give me that look!"

          She spreads her arms to summon copies of her weapon.

          "What look?"

          "You know what look - that one you get every time you think I'm being stupid."

          A dozen of her sharp blades converge on the Witch, piercing and weakening her further.

          "I _never_ think you're stupid - you're a genius - I just don't think you..." More blades are sent forth, followed by a blast from Hiro. "...handle these things so well."

          The Witch screeches loudly, momentarily deafening them, and Hiro responds in kind by giving her an even larger blast, silencing her for a few seconds.

          "Explain."

          The Witch is stunned, and Kii takes advantage and slashes at her as much as she can.

          "Verbal arguments aren't exactly your specialty, wouldn't you agree?" She narrowly avoids getting crushed and rolls over, standing back up in the relative safety next to Hiro. "You understand bot-fighting, you understand Witch-hunting - but those two don't really require words, right?" They kneel down to brace themselves as more sound waves attempt to knock them over, and they stand again to keep fighting the moment it goes quiet. "You get what I'm saying here?"

          "Yeah, I know. I just..." With another handful of quick attacks, the Witch slumps over, seeming to be close to defeat. "...don't know how to talk to him about serious things."

          "Nothing to be ashamed of! Talking serious is a hard thing to do!"

          With a large flourish, they summon the last bits of their strength to combine their weapons into one, relishing in the moment to finally be ending this incredibly long battle in a spectacular final attack. Dropping to the ground to sit and catch their breath, they watch the labyrinth slowly collapse and vanish into the sunset-painted sky, a lone grief seed the only remaining clue to their plight. Hiro leans over, exhausted and nearly unable to hold himself up, plucking it from the ground and handing it over for Kii to use first. As he waits for his turn, he stares down at his Soul Gem, swirling with even more darkness than before, and he wonders just how close he was until...

          He's startled out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder, and he tears his eyes away from it to find her sitting closer to him.

          She's looking at it too, holding the Grief Seed to his gem herself, as if she's afraid that him holding it will just bring more darkness. They're both quiet as the light gradually returns to it, and he instantly feels worlds better, almost like he's gotten rid of a stubborn flu.

          "Let's keep this nice and clean more often, yeah?"

          They look each other in the eye, her eyes set in a silent grim plea. He nods his head solemnly.

          "...Yeah."

 

          "Hiro!"

          They're interrupted by the call of a familiar voice.

          Looking around to find the source, they're stunned by the sight of Tadashi heading toward them at an incredible pace- was he _flying_?

          "...T-Tada...shi..."

          The elder reaches them and shakily maneuvers himself, much like a newborn fawn, to settle onto the ground, and they can now clearly see some sort of rocket boosters attached to his feet. He takes a matching helmet off and looks down at them, catching his breath and managing to look stern and shaken and exhausted all at once.

          "Wh...What are you doing? What is all this?" Hiro's up on his feet in an instant, walking around to inspect the strange boots from all angles, and noting, with a laugh, the knee and elbow pads that are also a part of the ensemble, as if his brother was simply out for some rollerblading. "Was _this_ what you were doing last night? Is this really happening?" Before he knows it, he's on the ground again, hunched over and laughing hysterically.

          "It's my own way of keeping up with your new speed," Tadashi explains, clearly displeased at being mocked. "I'm here to get you to come home. Aunt Cass has been worried, and I've been worried, and..." he leans down and places both hands on his brother's shoulders, steadying him and looking him in the eyes, "Hiro, can we please talk about all of this? _Please_?"

          Hiro's laughter dies almost as soon as it appears, and he's already looking incredibly wary at this turn of events.

          "I..." he glances back and forth between his brother, Kii, and the ground, "Tadashi, I-"

          Another interruption appears...in the form of a distant figure.

          "What is that...?"

          Tadashi impatiently turns, thinking it to just be Hiro stalling for time, but spots the movement as well. The trio get close to the ground to hide, and watch as the figure moves about the fenced-in property surrounding a large warehouse. It appears to be a man, but it's difficult to tell from the distance, and the dark clothing and mask covering them from head to toe.

          "Is it...another of those things?"

          Kii shakes her head.

          "No, it's...it's definitely human."

          The figure seems to chain up the door, glancing around, not appearing to spot them, and heads off, disappearing down an alleyway.

          Hiro's up and heading towards the building before Tadashi even registers it, and he sputters, pulling himself up and following after.

          "Hiro! What are you doing?"

          "What's it look like I'm doing? This whole thing looks _super sketchy_ , so I'm _checking it out_!"

          "This could be really dangerous!"

          " _I live danger every day!_ "

          Kii rolls her eyes and follows after the two, coming to stand before the large building.

          Hiro looks down at the locked chain and snorts.

          "Yeah, okay, that's gonna stop me," he mutters and begins looking around for another way in, spotting a window. "Aha! Kii, come gimme a boost!"

          "I don't think I'm the best option for that."

          "Why not?"

          "I'm just barely a head taller than you."

          "Well Tadashi's not gonna do it, so you're my best shot."

          "...Fine." She begins to step forward when a hand stops her.

          "...I'll do it."

 

          He manages to get both Hiro and Kii up through the window before immediately regretting it and practically begging them to come back out.

          They don't, of course. Hiro instead calls out for him to keep watch while they investigate.

          Making their way down from the platform that spreads across the whole of the giant room, they spot what seems to be a tented off area from behind some large industrial crates. From their place, they can just make out the shadow of some repetitive movement behind the plastic tarp. Gems at the ready, they creep ever closer, bit by bit, until they can safely peek around and into the wide space beyond.

          It's a robotic arm that's the source of the movement, and they breathe a sigh of relief at the absence of another living being, be it human or Witch. The relief is short-lived, however, when Hiro takes a closer look at a conveyer belt that exits a large machine, bring out and dumping what look to be tiny metallic pieces into a large drum at the end of the line.

          Picking up one of these pieces and inspecting it, he can feel his stomach drop to his feet and beyond, and he reluctantly sweeps his eyes across the remainder of the room, filled to near-capacity with dozens upon dozens of the same drums - each, to his utter dismay, filled to the top with the very same small pieces.

 

          "...My...My microbots?"

          "...Your what?"

 

          Before they can inspect anything further, the microbot in Hiro's hands begins twitching rapidly, and flings itself across the room to join it's brethren.

          Someone's here, and they know they have intruders.

          "Kii, _run!_ "

          An enormous wave of the thousands and thousands of microbots grows into a incredible tidal wave, before locking onto their targets and rushing them. The two barely have time to scramble out of the way before they're running for their lives, dodging the wave and turning around each nook and cranny in an attempt to lose them. Running up to the main door and crashing into it, they feebly attempt to punch and kick it open before they have to throw themselves out of the way and back into a run. Taking the steps up to the platform two at a time and nearly tripping over themselves along the way, they rush to the window they entered through and look back at their attacker.

          The man from before is the source, covered head to toe in black and wearing a brightly colored mask. He merely watches them silently from his perch, like a bird of prey, easily riding the wave and throwing an arm forward, sending another burst of microbots to grab at them.

          Unable to do anything else, they throw themselves backward and out through the window, hurtling toward a metal shed beneath them.

          Hiro barely feels arms quickly wrap around his torso and pull him into a firm body, before they abruptly crash loudly through the roof of the shed.

          "Hiro!"

          He feels like he's lost a few seconds, suddenly finding himself on the ground looking up at the warehouse through the large hole his landing made. His neck twitches to turn around, and he's met with Tadashi hurrying to pull open the door and pull urgently at them. It's only then that Hiro realizes just what cushioned his landing and he springs up, nearly giving himself whiplash, and shakes his friend's shoulders roughly.

          "Kii! Kii, are you alright? Can you move? _Kii!_ "

          She appears unconscious, still breathing but not moving an inch, and for a moment, Hiro thinks that this is it.

          He's gently pushed aside, and with a strong grab and lift, she's pulled onto Tadashi's back in one swift move, and they're off again, sprinting across the yard and weaving through alley upon alley to lose their pursuer. It feels like forever, and Hiro briefly wonders if his lungs will burst and kill him before they can, but somehow, it appears they are successful.

          After a few more minutes of brisk running, they slow to a stop when they reach a more populated area. Still feeling highly paranoid, but much safer, they silently make their way back to the Lucky Cat Cafe, trying to avoid attention.

          Well, as best as they can, being a young man with rocket boots and a helmet, a passed out girl on his back, and his ever awkward little brother. So alright, they didn't exactly fit the bill as far as 'blending into the crowd' went, but they certainly did try.

          Walking into their home through the back, they run into their aunt.

          "Hey boys! Where have you- Oh!" She quickly notices their companion and rushes over to hover around them, much like a hen to her chicks. "Oh my gosh, is she okay? Who is she? What happened? Is everything alright?"

          "A-Aunt Cass, please, relax," Tadashi attempts to pacify her, "This is Hiro's friend, and uh, there was just a little accident and she fell- She'll be fine, I promise! We're just gonna get her upstairs to rest up, alright? I'll have Baymax check her out and- Everything's cool! Promise!"

          Allowing her a couple of more seconds to sweep her eyes over and inspect them for any more damage, she reluctantly steps aside.

          "Alright, alright, just- Just be careful and let me know how she is! I'll be up later to check on you all!" She begins to step slowly back toward the front, turning to look back every couple of steps, as if she's afraid something will happen if she takes her eyes off of them for a second, before finally stepping through the divider and going back to her business.

 

          "Baymax, ouch."

          A soft ping and the sound of a large balloon inflating are heard as he gently lays her onto Hiro's bed, and they turn, finding the nursing bot fully inflated and ready to go...albeit stuck in the small area behind Tadashi's bed. Hiro stifles a laugh as he watches Baymax silently tiptoe his way around the obstacles, sometimes knocking something over, before he at last waddles his way over and waves.

          "Hello! I am Baymax - your personal healthcare provider. I heard a sound of distress. Is something the matter?" His creator waves a hand over Kii.

          "Hey Baymax, could you scan her? She got a little hurt today."

          "Scanning. Scan complete. It appears she has been knocked unconscious - likely by a fall, or an otherwise intense hit to her head. In addition, she appears to have suffered a concussion. I am also detecting some bruising and injuries to her back. She is otherwise uninjured. Would you like me to apply an antiseptic and bandages?"

          "Yeah, thanks Baymax," Tadashi gently turns her over to lay on her stomach, making sure to keep her face turned so she can breathe. "We'll be downstairs while you work."

          He turns to exit the room and nods his head over for Hiro to follow.

          "We...We should talk."

          His brother seems stuck in place, hesitating and looking back over at Kii, and his heart breaks a little to watch this.

          "She's gonna be okay, Hiro..."

          He still doesn't meet his eyes, looking down and seeming to shake his head free of whatever it is he's been thinking, and he walks back to the bed, holding out an arm as Baymax begins to lift her shirt to apply the medicine.

          "Baymax, wait. I've got this," he looks up to the robot, who stops his actions and tilts his head.

          Climbing up to sit cross-legged beside her, he summons his gem and holds it to her bruised back, small cuts still bleeding in light amounts from the fall. A faint glow appears, growing larger and emanating in smoothing waves as Hiro closes his eyes and concentrates.

          To Tadashi's amazement, the cuts begin the close, and the bruises gradually fade away to nothing. He can't look away, reluctant to even blink as he watches in awe.

          Once her back had cleared up completely, he moves his gem over, lifting her head into the crook of his arm and bringing the glow to rest behind her skull.

          After easily the longest minute in his life, he can just see her eyes begin the flutter as she awakens.

 

          "She is healed," Baymax supplies, unhelpfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it truly is a shame that none of you have said anything since chapter 1 :c  
> even if this is just something I've been doing to practice writing and pass the time, I'd like to know how I'm doing


	5. Miracles and Magic Exist ❙奇跡も、魔法も、あるんだよ❙

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just noticed something as I was writing: I think if you pay close enough attention to her throughout the chapters so far, you may be able to notice an underlying theme behind Kii - and with that, you may be able to guess what her wish might've been or at least pertained to :9c

_"Now, Hiro!"_

_He very narrowly dodges the attack tossed at him, shakily lifting his weapon with great difficulty, and feebly attacking back as much as he can manage._

_"I'm trying!"_

_Why the hell was his weapon so huge and heavy in the first place? This isn't fair! Didn't Kyubey say that most Magical Girls get swords and bows and stuff like that? Why'd he have to get stuck with a total powerhouse he could barely move?_

_More important to his current predicament, why on Earth did he, of all people, have to get stuck with such a powerful Witch for his very first hunt?_

_Kyubey - that useless rat - is just watching him, perched innocently a safe distance away from the action. Hiro swore that if he got out of this alive, he was_ so _going to rip him clean apart for this. He grunts, feeling pain shoot through every muscle in his body - he was never meant for all this heavy lifting and constant physical work, not when it had nothing to do with robots - and redirects his bazooka for another attack while he still has a sort-of-clear shot._

_That is, until the Witch vanishes from view and reappears in a burst of static directly in front of him, staring down with it's terrible stare and standing to it's full, monstrous height to bear down on him._

_"...Oh no."_

_This was it. This was the end. His very first hunt, and he was already going down. What a waste. Hiro Hamada: battle-bot extraordinaire - cut down with what was only just barely a blaze of glory, eaten by a Witch, his body remaining where it lay until the labyrinth would eventually be destroyed by another, a better Magical Girl, and all traces of him vanishing forever with it..._

_He wondered what Tadashi would say if he could see him now, and flinched, forcing his eyes shut and awaiting his execution._

_...Which never came._

_He opens his eyes when he hears the Witch cry out in pain, and spots a figure, moving at what he thought might very well be the speed of light. With each flash of movement and the sound of metal cutting through the air, the Witch cries out, shrinking back bit by bit, until it finally falls to the ground, defeated.  From his seat on the floor, Hiro stares up at it, more confused than anything. The figure comes to a stop, springing over to land between himself and the Witch's remains._

_A girl grins down at him, allowing her weapon to dissipate into light, and kneels, holding her hand out to him._

_"Are you alright?"_

_He's still stunned, blinking a couple of times at her, before slowly reaching a quivering hand out to grasp hers._

_"...I-I...Yeah, I...I think so..."_

_Her hand is warm, her smile comforting, and she gently pulls him up to stand. She's only about a head taller than him, closer to eye-level than nearly everyone else he knows - save GoGo, at least - and he feels much more relaxed with each passing second. She's a Magical Girl, and even though she is quite obviously more skilled and with more experience, it still means a great deal that, when it really comes down to it, they are_ equals _._

_The labyrinth is gone now, and without breaking eye contact, she kneels to pick up the Grief Seed and holds it out to him._

_"You fought her too - let's share."_

_"...I...Alright, yeah..."_

_They exchange the Grief Seed between them and each get a turn - a sign of friendship and working together amongst their kind, and he finds himself hoping that she really does mean it._

_They are in their civilian forms before he even notices, and she smile wryly, like a teasing friend._

_"You're new to this, aren't you? I haven't seen you around until tonight," she holds out her hand again, "I'm Kiara, but everyone calls me Kii."_

_After another moment, he smiles brightly back at her, and shakes her hand, laughing lightly and feeling his face heat up a bit in embarrassment._

_"Heh, y-yeah...it was that obvious, huh? I'm Hiro."_

_"Nice to meet you, Hiro!" They let go, but she doesn't make a move to leave just yet._

_"So, uh...just...hear me out for a sec - I've been doing this for a long time, now, Hiro - would you...wanna maybe hunt with me for a while? I can help you practice and get better- I mean, i-if you want to, that is!" She's quickly flustered, seeming to think that he may prefer to work alone, and he's caught off guard for a moment by the offer._

_"...I- Yeah! That sounds great!"_

_The smile returns in full force. If she hadn't dropped it for that small bit, he might have wondered if it was just a permanent feature on her face._

_"Great! How about we meet here tomorrow at around six?"_

_"Sounds good," he nods, repeating the time in his head so he won't forget._

_"Then that's that, I guess," she turns to leave and waves back at him, "See you tomorrow, Hiro!"_

_A friend in the field willing to help him out - and a_ veteran _at that! As he felt Kyubey hop up to sit on his shoulder, Hiro just hoped it wasn't too good to be true._

_He finds himself waving enthusiastically, like a little kid saying goodbye to his mother on his first day of school._

 

 

_"See you around, Kii!"_

 

         "...Kii?"

         She starts, ripped from her thoughts, and turns to face the familiar voice, momentarily having to squint her eyes in the blaring light of the setting sun.

         "Tadashi," she greets, surprised, nodding toward his companion, "...and...Fred, right?" The blond grins widely and holds his hand up for a high-five.

         "That's me! How goes it, little dudette?" She reciprocates and smiles welcomingly.

         "It goes well, thank you," taking her hand back, her eyes go back to the more familiar of the two, "Didn't expect to see you here. On your way home?"

         He nods, "Yeah- Well, first, I'm making sure he gets home without getting into trouble," Fred looks scandalized at the indirect accusation, "Then after that, I'm heading home."

         "Hey man, so not cool - I can totally get home all by myself!" Arms crossed, he pouts angrily, though he only receives a smirk and huffed laugh from his friend.

         "Yeah, alright, I believe you," Fred holds up a finger to argue another point, but stops suddenly, turning on his heel and rushing forward to point to Kii.

         "Yo, I know that uniform! SanFransokyo Academy - nice," He compliments, bringing a hand to rest under his chin and nodding his head slowly, catching her by surprise, "What concentration?"

         "I- Yeah, that's right," she glances down at her uniform as if just remembering, "I'm a mathematics concentration."

         Tadashi raises a brow and nods his head, impressed.

         "Nice. Thinking about college, or- Wait, how old are you, anyway?"

         "I'm seventeen, eighteen next month," she half-smiles, "I'm actually going through applications right now. Kinda hoping for SFIT, but I've got other options just in case."

         "Oh, _word_! That's where we go!"

         "Where _I_ go, Fred," Tadashi corrects.

         "Hey now, I don't do any of your fancy classes, but I'm the _school mascot_ , man!"

         He strikes what the other two suppose is what was meant to be a heroic pose, startling the other few people waiting at the bus stop and passing by. Tadashi fondly rolls his eyes and Kii laughs, a bit warmer and more relaxed than before. The bus arrives, and Fred is unceremoniously dragged on by his ear, loudly complaining the entire ride to his block.

         The bus screeches painfully loudly to a halt, a computerized voice announcing the assigned stop.

         "Welp, this is where I leave you, amigos," Fred gets up from the seat in a flourish, spinning on his heel and walking backward to the exit. He snaps his fingers to point at them, "I shall see you tomorrow, Tadashi, and little-but-not-littlest one, you should totally stop by the lab sometime!"

         He pays no mind to where he's going and trips over himself, toppling down the stairs and interrupting him. His companions and fellow passengers jump up to check on him, startled when he suddenly jumps up in one swift movement. The rest of the bus groans in annoyance, but he seems not to notice at all, waving cheerfully and turning to bound down the street towards home.

         Tadashi settles back into his seat, covering his face in embarrassment. He sighs, one full of a long suffering, and looks to his brother's friend.

         "So, where do you get off?"

         "Not too much further, actually," she smiles politely and looks out the window at the scenery passing by.

         "...How's your head?"

         "Much better, thank you. Back to normal."

         "Oh. Good."

         A long silence descends, almost a physical pressure pressing down on them.

         "How did your talk go?"

         "...My talk?"

         "With Hiro." She turns to look at him directly, knowingly, and his subconsciously shrinks back from the subject, staring down at a fixed point.

         "It went...well enough, I guess," he says, wringing his hands. "We talked a lot - about the other night, about his...job. About everything."

         He steals a glance, and they meet eyes for a moment, before she gives him reprieve and turns hers back to the window.

         "That's good. I'm really glad," she says to the passing city streets. "...He really worries, you know. About what you may think of him, and...well, everything else."

         "Does he, now?" They meet gazes again, and Tadashi seems a little surprised, along with some amusement.

         "I know, hard to believe, right?" She laughs, "But I mean it. We've been talking about that a lot lately, actually."

         "Yeah? Well, I'll admit, it's a lot to take in, and...and the other night was..." He looks around quickly at the surrounding strangers who may overhear them, and back to her, leaning in to murmur lowly, "I'm decidedly not a fan of letting my little brother just run into something as messed up as that."

         She sighs through her nose and nods her head, "Yeah, that was really...certainly not the best way to ease you into the more...dangerous aspects of it." Now it is her turn to look around to ensure their conversation was truly between just them. Satisfied, she re-settles herself and leans her head against the window.

 

         "If you'd like to talk more about it, get off at my stop with me."

 

* * *

 

 

         Hiro sits on his bed in a stone cold silence, staring down at his gem like it was the very center of the world, watching the colors swirl and gleam in the dying sunlight. The room is gradually getting darker, but he seems not to notice or mind. Twirling it gently within his grasp, he feels the warmth rolling off of it in gentle waves, and closes his eyes, mind going back to darker memories. To when he and Kii spoke about that terrible, awful consequence. To the disgusting secret they kept from everyone closest to them. To Kyubey, the alien creature that started this entire game.

         "Hiro?"

         He jumps at his aunt's voice calling to him, nearly dropping it, and jumps up.

         "Yeah?"

         "It's almost dinner time, why don't you come on down?"

         "Coming!"

 

         He walks over to the door, lifting his hands to return his gem to his ring, and he pauses.

 

         "And don't forget to wash your hands!"

         Hiro jumps, startled again, and quickly banishes the gem from sight, finally opening the door all the way and leaving the bedroom.

         "Yeah, yeah, I'm going!"

 

         Maybe he was just being paranoid, but he thought his gem might have gotten a little duller while he was busy reminiscing.

 

* * *

 

 

         The trip down the street, into the surprisingly fancy-looking building, and up to her floor through the elevator was quiet, almost like their voices were put on mute. The low humming of the mechanisms and the whir of the door sliding open seeming much louder than they normally might. She leads him down the hallway to her front door, and unlocks it, quickly ushering him inside and dropping her bag, heavy with schoolwork, by the door.

         He takes note of how empty and quiet it seems, despite it's lived-in qualities and homely appearance.

         "You live alone?"

         She gently brushes past him to sit at the kitchen table.

         "No. My dad works nights, so he's usually gone by the time I get home. So I guess I mostly live alone," she grins lightly, inviting him to sit with her.

         "That sounds lonely," he sits across from her, settling into his chair.

         "It is, sometimes. But since I have to be out at night so often, it works out," she jokes, looking down at her hands. "...What were those things, yesterday? Hiro called them microbots, but I've never seen those before."

         "Oh, that's- That was Hiro's own invention. He created them for the student showcase at SFIT a couple of months back. We...we thought they were destroyed in the fire, but apparently..." The memory of that strange person in the mask passes in his mind's eye, almost taunting him.

         A glimmer of recognition passes over her face. "I think I remember hearing about that. Well, I mean, the fire itself sort of overshadowed everything else."

         "Yeah, it was-..." he scrunches his face in thought. "What if the fire wasn't an accident, though..." He says this so lowly, Kii doesn't hear it.

         "It was what...?"

         "I was just thinking...the fire seemed almost too convenient. That Krei guy was really interested in buying the microbots, but Hiro refused. I don't think he liked that too much."

         Her eyes widen. "You think Alistair Krei set the fire to steal them? But...why the mask-guy?"

         "I...I don't know," he groans, shaking his head. "I think I'm gonna go find that guy from the warehouse, see who he really is..." He hears her chair shift as she sits up and leans forward.

         "Hiro and I can help. We have an advantage."

         "I-..." It's a tempting offer, really, but something's been nagging at him from the back of his mind ever since that first night the monsters appeared.

         Tadashi supposes it's now or never.

 

         "Kii, do...Magical Girls, can- do they ever die while fighting Witches?"

 

         She seems to deflate, freezing and not looking up to face him. He waits, not entirely patiently, watching her.

         "...Yes. Sometimes they do. Occupational hazard, y'know?"

         She whispers this to her hands, like she is afraid of saying this knowledge out loud, and for a few painful moments as he sucks in a breath, Tadashi wishes he had never even asked. He didn't truly _want_ to know, despite feeling the absolute _need_ to know, and he wonders briefly whether it was actually better for him to know or not.

         "I...see," he grips the table, turning his own eyes down at it's polished wooden surface. "And...there's no way for him to...stop - to stop doing this?"

         "...No," she whispers even quieter, something he didn't before think possible. He thinks he can feel his whole body shudder repeatedly, mountains bearing down on him.

         "But-!" Kii shifts herself, snapping her head back up to look him in the eyes. "I want you to know, Tadashi...that- I will _never_ let that happen to him. Ever. Not as long as I have a shred of life in me. Hiro and I- it's why we're a team. It's a dangerous thing we do, and it's why we look out for each other. I know you don't really know me well- not at all, really, but...I just want you to know that I am one-hundred-and-sixty percent willing to keep him from getting hurt in this."

         He listens to her small, though admirably impassioned speech, giving her the time to get it all out. It's true: he and her, they're still strangers to each other, but going by what he's seen and heard in the past week, he truly does want to trust her. Trust, however, is not that simple of a thing, and he cannot completely give it to her just yet. Not to mention that the man with Hiro's microbots and his intentions are still unknown, and he doesn't know just how much of a threat the guy really is.

         "Look, I...I really do want you to trust me, so I'm gonna to show you something, alright? It's a secret, not even Hiro knows about it," she reaches into the pocket of her skirt, keeping eye-contact with her guest. "And I'd rather he continue to not know." She pauses, not bringing her hand above the table just yet, watching for a reaction. He considers this, and nods.

         "I won't tell him."

         She half-smiles, relaxing just a little bit, and places a small object onto the table between them.

         "...Isn't that...?"

         "It's a Grief Seed," she confirms, "I've never used it, so it's still capable of cleaning a Soul Gem. I carry it with me all the time, in case Hiro needs one. An emergency Grief Seed."

         He is silent, somewhat stunned, staring down at it, and then back up at her.

         "...What exactly happens to someone if they _do_ need an emergency Grief Seed?"

         "It hinders our magic greatly, and at a point it starts messing with our minds. The darker a Soul Gem gets, the weaker we become. You learned yesterday how Magical Girls have enhanced healing, and you saw how Hiro used his doubly-enhanced abilities to speed mine up - if his gem ever gets too dark, he wouldn't even be able to use the bare minimum - he could get seriously hurt and not be able to recover in time."

         Another violent shudder travels like lightening through his body, and she shrinks down, apologetic and softening her voice.

         "I'm sorry I'm freaking you out with this. I really didn't want to tell you any of that, and there's still so much more to it that I'm not going to tell you right now, but I want you to know that I'm prepared in case something happens." Her eyes then narrow in slight suspicion, "And I still mean it when I say that Hiro can't know about this," she takes back the Grief Seed and holds it up purposefully, before putting it back in her pocket.

 

         Tadashi and Kii were complete and total strangers to each other, brought together by pure chance - two opposing lives intertwining through the single thread of one Hiro Hamada, and his strange new journey. They were not friends, though could perhaps be someday. They were just barely acquaintances at this point. He could not allow himself to trust her completely so quickly and so easily.

         He is always welcome, however, to compromise.

 

         "Kii...if you're willing to hear what I have to say, I'd like to offer you two some backup."

 

 

         Tadashi gets in about an hour later, and only stops by the room to collect Baymax and another handful of items before it's straight back to the garage, Aunt Cass trailing behind him insistently with a plate of food. Hiro listens from his desk, rolling his eyes.

         "Yeah okay, don't say hi to me."

 

* * *

 

 

         "Tadashi, I am worried that this armor will interfere with my soft and huggable design."

         "Don't worry about it, Baymax," he pats the robot comfortingly, adjusting another piece of his new armor suit, "I need you for a special mission right now, and I don't want to have to worry about you popping."

         "What is this mission you speak of?" The soft robotic voice inquires.

         "Yeah, what is this mission you speak of?"

         Tadashi jumps back, turning to find Hiro lounging on the couch at the back of the room.

         "Hiro, I-! How did you get in here?" He looks back and forth from couch to the closed garage door, which he certainly would have heard open if it did.

         "Eh, having magic has it's perks," his brother shrugs, sipping lazily from his soda cup and swinging his leg back and forth. "Nah. I snuck in while you were busy making parts, genius."

         "Baymax, why didn't you say anything?"

         The robot only holds his hand up in his usual pointing gesture.

         "I greeted Hiro when he arrived, but you appeared not to hear me. I did not want to interrupt you."

         Hiro cackles and leans back as Tadashi runs a hand down his face a sighs.

         "Alright. Alright, okay. Fair enough, _but_ ," he spins back around and steps over to stand in front of the younger boy, arms crossed. "So why are you sneaking around watching me work, hm?"

         He doesn't budge, only shooting him a tired glare and rolling his eyes.

         "Oh, I was just a little curious why my brother was suddenly so interested in avoiding me after we had that _adorable, brotherly, heart-warming talk_ , or whatever that was. So," he hops up, walking over to admire Baymax's new look from all angles.

         "What's the whole mission-thing about? Trying to impress a girl? 'Cause I gotta say, if I were a girl, I might be impressed by a big robot in superhero armor." He smirks over his shoulder as he sends his brother spluttering for a clear sentence.

         "What? I- No, absolutely not! I don't- _Hiro, don't touch that!_ " He rushes to prevent Hiro from messing around with any of the parts. "Hiro, this is serious, I don't want anything coming off in the middle of it!"

         "Middle of _what?_ "

         "Of-..." Tadashi groans. "Alright, so _maybe_ I happen to be going out to look for that guy with your microbots."

         "Oh. Cool. So, are we going tonight, or...?"

         "I never said anything about you coming with me."

         "Tadashi, they're _my_ microbots, of course I have to go! Besides, you know I'm not useless - I've got _superpowers_ ; I can help!"

         They're at a standstill for a long few seconds, locked in a mild battle of wills, before Tadashi groans again and gives in, rubbing a hand behind his head and turning back to finish the new additions to Baymax.

         "Well, I did promise Kii that you two could help..."

 

         "...Wait. You talked to Kii? _Alone?_ "

         "What- Shut up! It's not like that!"

 

* * *

 

 

         The four silently make their way toward the docks, Tadashi carrying Baymax through the air with the use of his rocket-skates.

         "Tadashi, over there."

         Hiro points out one particular dock as he glides through the cold night air past his brother, holding in his gloved hands a petri dish containing a single microbot he had found in one of his jackets back at home. It clinked surprisingly loudly against the glass, repeatedly and quite insistently, attempting with all it's might to regroup with it's brethren. It was clear that the others were somewhere close, activated by the masked person.

         They land on that dock and watch the sole microbot clink even quicker against it's temporary prison, out toward the ocean.

         Suddenly, it manages to push itself enough that it lifts the lid, breaking free and zooming away despite Hiro's indignant grabs for it and demands for it to return to him. He quiets instantly as a large shadow breaks through the fog, quickly making it's way to them. They stumble into a run, Baymax waddling slowly after them and Tadashi doubling back to get behind and hurriedly push him onward. They make their hiding place behind some of the large steel cargo containers stacked close by the water, and watch quietly from their shadows.

         The person in the mask rides on the large wave of microbots, coming in from the sea to step onto the spot they had only just occupied. He's looking around, almost expectantly, and they wonder if perhaps he had already seen them and it was too late to catch him by surprise.

         "What should we do now?" Kii inquires, whispering lowly and keeping her eyes on their enemy.

         "Not too sure," Tadashi admits, "I was hoping we could catch him off-guard and swarm him, but..."

         "He has all those microbots with him," Hiro finishes, clearly growing more mad by the second. "His controller must be in the mask, so we should focus on that. No mask, no microbots - no way of fighting us off."

         "I- Yeah, that's...Wow, Hiro, very good," a surprised and incredibly proud older brother turns to admire him, and Hiro rolls his eyes, blushing clearly even in the dark.

         "C'mon, I'm not stupid..."

         Kii giggles under her breath and pats his shoulder. "Now now, you."

         They're stunned into stillness when a bright light flashes across them.

         A car has pulled up, facing them.

         None of them dare to even twitch.

         Well, except for Baymax, who turns fully to face the car and tilt his head.

         The lights shut off, the doors open...

 

         ...and out step all four of Tadashi and Hiro's friends.

         "Tadashi? Hiro?" Honey Lemon worriedly looks them over.

         "Honey- What are you guys doing here?" Hiro forgets himself and raises his voice to normal speaking volume, stepping forward to better see them.

         "Is that _Baymax_? What is all this?" Wasabi narrows his eyes, though more confused than angry, and eyes the robot.

         "Hello," he chirps, giving his signature wave.

         "What are you guys doing? How did you even find us?" Tadashi, maintaining his habit, runs a hand over his helmet and places the other on his hip.

         "Baymax contacted us," Gogo explains shortly, popping her gum and raising her brow.

         "Baymax! Why?"

         The robot only holds up his finger, as if to state the obvious.

         "We are on a mission that may require my medical assistance. I thought it best to contact your friends - There is safety in numbers."

         Tadashi groans, Hiro snorts out a laugh, and Kii lowers her head, covering her face with a hand.

 

         The masked-person quickly brings them-self to loom menacingly over them all, as if offended that they've been momentarily forgotten completely.

         All talk instantly dies, and they stare up wide-eyed as the microbots begin to lift one of the heavy cargo bins, tossing it directly down at them.

         Tadashi and Fred stumble and fall flat to the ground, Gogo scrambles out of the way, Honey Lemon shuffles back until she hits the car with a loud 'thump', Wasabi screams in terror, and Hiro, well, he has absolutely no clue what to do in that split second, and forces his eyes shut to await certain death.

 

         ...Which never came.

 

         He blinks his eyes open as Wasabi's high-pitched screams die down into silence, and blinks up at the sight of Baymax and Kii holding the large object up above them, keeping it from killing them all.

         He wonders if this is going to be a recurring theme in his life.

 

         "Move it!"

         Tadashi pulls him up by the arm and leads him out of the targeted area, but the others have different plans, ushering them forcefully toward and into the car that is clearly much too small for all of them.

         "What are you guys doing?" Hiro demands, attempting to fight Gogo's steel grip.

         "Saving your lives!"

         She loosens her grip just long enough for him to jump out of her arms, waving dramatically over to where they just were.

         "C'mon, _we've totally got this_!"

         "Oh no."

         The soft voice sounds as he quickly sails through the air and lands roughly on the car's roof, leaving a rather large and deep dent.

         "Oh _come on,_ I just had this inspected!" Wasabi complains, jumping into the driver's seat and starting the engine.

         "Hiro!"

         His attention shifts to Kii, who is slashing wildly at the microbots but getting nowhere, clearly losing the battle. "Hiro, I can't get any damage in! We can't fight this!"

         "Hiro, let's go, we can figure something out later!" Tadashi waves him over from the front seat, and he groans.

         "Fine, alright! Kii, it's alright, let's just get out of here!"

         She stops attacking and dissolves her weapon, nearly tripping over herself to rush past him and dive into the backseat.

         "Don't mind if I do!"

         They pile into whatever free space is left, Gogo climbing over Tadashi to squeeze in-between the driver and passenger seats, and Hiro practically sitting on Kii and Fred's laps in the back. Baymax remains on the roof, looking around and seeming as clueless as ever.

         "Hang on tight Baymax!"

 

* * *

 

 

         The mad chase in a circle throughout the better part of the city ends unceremoniously when the car crashes headfirst into the bay, sinking quickly to the bottom. Hiro thinks he can see the shadow of the microbots back away and leave as they sink, and he hopes that the person has truly given up on them and gone away.

         Water fills into the tiny structure, everyone gasping wildly for breath and trying to hold it as the remaining air swiftly vanishes into the sea. He can feel his lungs burn and scream for air as his vision begins to darken around the edges...

         His second try at death within the hour is soon over once again, however, as he is brought back to full consciousness by the sound of Baymax shedding his armor and the feeling of him pulling each of them out, floating to the surface like the giant balloon he truly was.

         They crash through to the surface and gulp in the fresh air, quietly murmuring their thanks to the robot.

         Crawling one by one onto dry land, they fully notice just how cold it is that night, shivering uncontrollably.

         "Where d-d-d-do we even g-g-go? I d-don't have a c-c-c-car anymore and we're way off course from any of our h-houses," Wasabi manages to stutter out, still somehow sounding stern even through his comical stuttering.

         "I don't know..." Even Honey Lemon is starting to look hopeless, rubbing her arms frantically.

         Like a true hero in the night, Fred steps forward with a stern face.

         "I know where we can go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I've accidentally made myself ship Kii and Tadashi oh god oh man oh no this wasn't supposed to happen


	6. I Have No Regrets ❙悪くないと思ってる❙

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as a celebration for just about 1,000 hits on this fic [like wow how even, you guys are super], I've decided to throw in some doodles of Hiro's costume and Soul Gem, as well as of what Kii even looks like!!
> 
> tinypic.com/r/20kyhed/8 ::: tinypic.com/r/fa4pit/8 ::: tinypic.com/r/2v9f479/8 ::: tinypic.com/r/33049av/8 ::: tinypic.com/r/5cg700/8
> 
> tinypic.com/r/2uz55q1/8 ::: tinypic.com/r/5nta1z/8
> 
> I didn't draw Hiro's weapon, since the lovely ~sendatsu~ drew the most amazing interpretation of Hiro and his gear ever, and is also way better at drawing bazookas than I am, hahaha  
> http://guardian-of-da-gay.tumblr.com/post/105996083203/some-sketches-for-bh6-aus-1-older-hiro-some

_"…And that's when I contracted," Hiro finishes his grand tale with a small flourish of his hands, casting a small grin at Kyubey and rubbing his head, eliciting a contented purr._

_"Remarkable," Kii compliments, though her empathic smile doesn't quite reach her eyes. Rather, she looks mildly troubled, and watches him pet Kyubey with an empty stare — almost steely. Reluctantly returning her gaze to Hiro, she quickly seems to lose her nerve and begins to flick her eyes downward at the grass beneath them._

_"It's…truly a wonderful wish," she smiles genuinely this time, eyes meeting his for a second with a warm smile, though this falters and down at the ground she stares once more. Hiro frowns and bristles, feeling offense beginning to bubble up just below the surface._

_"What's wrong? 'Cause like, if you don't think it was worth it, I gotta_ really _disagree with you there-"_

_"No! No, no, no," she corrects, head whipping up and hands waving frantically in front of her. "No, I didn't mean to come off like that, it's just…"_

_She visibly struggles for words, and he raises a brow, suddenly finding himself suspicious of his newfound friend._

_ "…Just…?"_

_She sighs and groans lightly, face contorting in a pained sort of expression._

_"I just…I wanted to make sure that it wasn't a wish you're likely to regret," she says to the space between them, rather than directly at him._

__ "Regret? _Nah," he laughs, getting her to look up—guiltily — at him, "It was definitely worth the dress, if that's what you were wondering. Besides, even if I did regret my wish for whatever weirdo reason — what's the worst that could happen? I have to keep fighting Witches? I've got you to train me and help me out now, so it's really no problem!"_

 _She just stares at, or rather_ into _him for a long, long moment. Pure and empty silence suffocates them, like the vacuum of space, and his laughter dies, speedily melting into an uncomfortable confusion as he tries to avoid looking directly at her, attempting look at absolutely anything else but her._

_"...K-Kii? What's with that look you got there, huh?"_

_"…Hiro," she starts, tilting her head back slightly and pausing as she considers her words, "…how much, if anything, has Kyubey told you about…_ where _Witches come from?"_

 

* * *

 

"Fred, where are we?" Gogo demands,her already nonexistent patience fraying rapidly.

 

Fred had said not a word more since his initial announcement, save to vocally direct them every now and then.Tadashi, spotting familiar landmarks,thinks he recognizes the area, but just can't seem to place a name to it. They had been walking for quite some time, and they were all still very much soaked to the bone, and shivering, and all-around drained from their night of not-so-fun adventure. Well, all excluding Baymax, who waddles loyally at the group's side, seeming content enough just to be there to watch over them — of course, with his occasional scanning to check in on their states. Fred continues to march on forward, and turns to walk determinably up the stone steps to what looks to be a large mansion.

 "…Fred, what do you think you're doing?"

 The venom in her voice is clear, and the others subconsciously back away a step or two as she tightens her arms and fists in preparation.

 Oblivious to the very real possibility of getting into an 'altercation' with his smaller friend, he simply grins and spreads his arms to gesture around him on the doorstep.

 "Oh! Welcome to mi casa — that's French for front door!"

 "…It really isn't," Honey Lemon supplies, smiling nervously and wondering if perhaps the cold had truly gotten to him.

 "Fred, enough with the jokes, you aren't helping!—"

 Gogo is stopped in her tracks by the door opening to reveal a posh butler, one who seems perfectly unsurprised to see them. He turns to Fred and bows slightly.

 

"Welcome home, Master Frederich."

"Heathcliff, my man!"

 

Tadashi briefly wonders if maybe he had drowned in the bay, after all.

 

 

           "You have got to be kidding me," Gogo mutters as the large doors open to Fred's room.

           Its large expanse houses an equal mix of both super nice - and likely incredibly expensive - furniture and electronics, and super nerdy comic book memorabilia. The group seems to forget their soaked clothing and heavy chill for a few moments as they drink it all in, astounded. Even Hiro, Tadashi notes, has stars in his eyes as he gazes appraisingly amongst the many collectable posters, figurines, comics, and just about anything he can put a name to, despite being having been quite noticeably grumpy and silent the whole trip there.

           Before long, though, his focus is back and cranked all the way up to eleven, and he marches to a table across the room, grabbing a blank piece of paper and a colored pencil from the cup laying atop it's surface. So focused, was he, that he didn't even vaguely notice a shadow growing over him until it's owner quite literally laid itself on top of him, pressing him lightly down onto the table.

           "Uh..." he glances up, "...Baymax?"

           "Your body temperature is still low," he explains simply, and suddenly Hiro begins feeling warm.

           Baymax, apparently, has a built-in heating function, and it isn't long before the chill has completely dissipated from his formerly shaking body. As the others quickly begin to walk over and lean themselves against the robot, Hiro simply continues work on the paper.

           "Oh yeah," Wasabi announces, "I can get in on this."

           "It's like spooning a warm marshmallow..." Fred sighs contentedly.

           "This is nice..." Honey Lemon compliments, closing her eyes.

           Even Gogo seems thoroughly relaxed by the warmth, and sighs, "Good robot..."

 

           "Does this symbol mean anything to you guys?" He shows the paper to the group once his work is completed, presenting what looks to be a logo, comprised of a bird and a circle.

 

           "Yes!" Fred jumps up excitedly, raising his hand and then pointing at it like a child, "...It's a bird!"

           They groan.

           "No, I- The guy in the mask was carrying something with this symbol on it. If we can trace the symbol, we can probably use it to figure out who he is and get him."

           "Whoa whoa whoa, wait, _get him_ " Gogo doesn't abandon her place on Baymax, but does lean over to glare at him properly. "Who said anything about tracking that psycho down?"

           " _I_ did, and you don't have to come with me - Kii and I are perfectly capable of handling this."

           "I- _No_. Hiro," Tadashi pushes himself off of the balloon-like surface to stand next to him. "You're not getting rid of me that easily. You saw how Kii could barely attack him with all those microbots in the way. You _can't_ do this alone, and you can't even do it if I helped, somehow - We have to go to the police."

           Hiro stands, pushing his chair back in a low screech heard even on the carpet, throwing Baymax and the others off-balance and sending them toppling over one another to the floor. He barely blinks and doesn't seem to even care, Tadashi tiredly notes.

           "Tadashi, they're not gonna believe me," he firmly states, "I tried. The morning after we found him and you left for school, I went to the station myself, and they _didn't_ and _won't_ believe me. The police can't help with this one."

           He's stunned into a short silence. Fred takes that opportunity to hop up and insert himself into the argument.

           "I have a theory."

 

           Sat on the couch in front of the large flatscreen television, one by one, the group is presented with a different comic.

           "Dr. Slaughter MD?" Wasabi is startled by Fred's sudden appearance directly behind him.

           "Actually millionaire weapons-designer Malcolm Chaseltick." He saunters over to the next comic, held by Hiro.

           "The Annihilator?" Kii giggles.

           "Behind the mask? Industrialist Reed Axworthy." With a surprisingly graceful turn, he slides over to Gogo.

           "Baron...Von...Destructo- Oh, just get to the point!" She tightens her fist around the comic, crushing it, and glares harshly at him. He takes his post in front of them, like a teacher patiently explaining a lesson to a class, or a parent dramatically telling a story.

           "Don't you guys get it? The man in the mask who attacked us...is none other than..." He presses a button on his remote, flicking the TV on to a still from what appears to be a news interview from earlier that day. "Voila! Alistair Krei."

           " _What_?" Hiro stands up, absolutely dumbfounded. Fred continues on.

           "Think about it - Krei wanted your microbots, and you said no! The rules don't apply to a man like Krei," he smirks at the screen, as Hiro steps up to take a closer look at the shot of the man.

           "There's _no way_ \- the guy's too high-profile!"

           "Then who _was_ that guy in the mask?" Honey Lemon inquires.

           "I- I don't know," he tosses the comic given to him onto the table, rubbing a hand through his hair "We don't know anything about him!"

 

           "His blood-type is AB negative."

 

           All at once their heads whip around to face Baymax, who stares innocently back at them.

           "Cholesterol levels are-"

           "Baymax!" Tadashi and Hiro are the first to rush over, the elder staring up in wonder at his creation.

           "You _scanned_ him?"

           "I am programmed to assess everyone's healthcare needs," the robot explains dutifully, the screen on his chest lighting up with an image of the villain. Alongside it appears a personalized health chart.

           "That's right..." Tadashi slowly shakes his head, proud smile growing wider by the second.

           "Yes!" Hiro throws his fists in the air and laughs, turning to his brother, "We can use the data from his scanning to find him!"

           "Uh, you'd have to scan everyone in San Fransokyo," Gogo interrupts, "And that might take...I don't know, _forever_?"

           "I- I can try to upgrade his sensor," Tadashi considers, thinking hard, "If I can manage that...we can scan the whole city at once!"

           Hiro looks thoughtfully at one of the display cases in the room, each of the reflections of his friends matching up with one of the many action figures.

           "Actually," he starts, turning around to face them, "If we're gonna catch this guy, you're all gonna need some upgrades."

           "...Upgrade _who_ now?" Wasabi backs up, almost forgetting he's in a seat and can't actually get away. Fred is writhing and bouncing in his seat, eyes flickering back and forth between everyone in the room.

           "Okay, I like where this is heading!"

           "We can't go against that guy!" Wasabi is still very unsure. "We're nerds!"

           "Guys," Tadashi steps forward, calming them for a moment with just a look, "Please, I- You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I'm not gonna make any of you do anything you don't want to, but...it would mean a lot to have the extra help. Even with Hiro and Kii being...them, I don't know if we can do this alone."

           "Hiro, Tadashi, Kii...we  _want_  to help, but...we're just..." Honey Lemon looks pleadingly between the two brothers, "...us."

           "No," Hiro's voice is strangely solid and leader-like, gazing up at a poster hanging in a frame behind them, depicting a full team of heroes.

 

 "You can be... _way more_."

 

           "Tadashi and Hiro are our best friends, and they need our help," Gogo stands firmly, nodding at them, and one by one the rest stand with her, "We're in."

           "Yes! Can you feel it?" Fred can barely contain himself. "You guys, do you feel this? Our origin story begins! We're gonna be _superheroes_!"

 

* * *

 

 

           "Just couldn't let Hiro go it alone, could you? You're a good big brother, y'know."

 

           Tadashi turns around from his spot, having stood in front of the Lucky Cat gazing up at the night sky for a while now. Kii stands a few feet away, smiling teasingly. He smiles back and returns his eyes to the heavens.

           "Never," he confirms. "Besides, the more help with this guy, the better, right?"

           "It would certainly seem that way."

           She comes to stand beside him, looking up to see what he sees, and they spend a long minute in companionable quiet. Tadashi thinks he can just make out a shooting star beyond the light pollution, and is reminded of a question long thought about in the past week.

           "Kii..."

           "Hm?"

           "...What was your wish?"

 

           A heavier type of quiet takes reign, weighing over them like a dark cloud, and he has to turn to see if she just hadn't left him alone in his spot in order to avoid answering.

           She remains, however, still staring upward and away from eye-contact. He does the same.

 

           "...Before I lived here, I lived a few cities away. More in the suburbs, really - it wasn't nearly as big and crowded as it is here. I was sorta close to turning fourteen at the time."

           Her voice is quiet, almost a murmur as she tells her own origin story, and Tadashi listens very carefully to ensure he doesn't miss anything said.

           "My mom and I were at home, and dad was at work - he still worked night-shift back then, but this was just after he left, so it was still around late afternoon going into early evening. I got bored and decided to go outside for a walk."

           He wonders if he imagined the slight break in her voice at the end of that sentence. It was so brief, almost nonexistent. He decides it doesn't really matter at the moment.

           "...When I was a few blocks away, I heard a really loud screeching and screaming, and then a big crash. It sounded like it might've been on my street, so I got worried and started heading back to check it out. Turns out it was on my street."

           ' _Oh no_ ,' he thinks.

           "Naturally, I start freaking out and run to it, and then I realize that the car was in front of my house, and my mailbox was suddenly in a million pieces all over the place. I kept running until I got to it, and I start looking around- trying to figure out what the hell just happened, y'know?"

           She glances over at him and he nods, forcing himself to breathe in and out calmly.

           "It took me a minute, and then I finally found her. She was out to get the mail, and this dude just swerved into her. Just like that. I think I heard he was on his phone or something dumb like that," she shakes her head slowly, eyes glassing over as she stares into nothing. "She was still alive...sorta. A few of my neighbors came out to check on us and tell me that an ambulance was on the way, but...yeah. She died less than a minute after I got there. There was nothing anyone could do."

           "...I'm sorry," he manages, softly. She only closes her eyes for a moment, before opening them again to stare at that same spot in space she had just been semi-focusing on.

           "I kept telling myself over and over that it wasn't my fault, but I kept thinking that maybe if I had been quicker getting there- If I had just been _quick enough_ , I could've done... something, anything. _Maybe_ I could've protected her...somehow. I don't know..." Her face scrunches up and her head drops to face the ground.

           "We moved here not too long after that, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. That's when I met _him_ ," she suddenly lifts her head to look across the street. He  turns as well and nearly has a heart attack.

           That strange, white, alien-animal-thing sits innocently on the sidewalk across from them, like it was summoned by her at that particular moment, flicking it's tail slowly back and forth.

           Tadashi has to force himself to look away, choosing the ground beneath him.

           "I wished that I would be fast enough, next time. That...if anyone else I loved was in danger, I'd be quick enough and strong enough to get there and save them. I wanted to be able to actually protect everyone from now on."

           She moves in his peripheral, and he turns to meet her eye-to-eye. Her face is nearly empty, a lonely sadness barely hidden, he thinks. Slowly, her mouth quirks into the tiniest of smiles.

           "How else do you think I'm always there to pull Hiro out of trouble?" She lets out a breath of laughter, which quickly turns into a hiccup, and that's when the tears start falling.

           "It _was_ my wish, after all."

 

           He stays there, and he lets her cry.

 

           Later, after she's gone silent and simply breathes, slowly, in and out, he hears her speak again.

 

 

           "I don't regret my wish. As long as I keep saving people, I'll never regret it."

 

* * *

 

 

_"Hiro-"_

_"I- I can't believe this! I won't! It's sick!"_

_Hiro kicks at the ground, pushes the nearby trash can, and shoves and kicks at anything he can get himself at._

_Kii lets him._

_Kyubey tilts his head from his seat on top of their closest lamppost._

_"I can never seem to understand humans and their way of thinking. Emotions are a strange thing, aren't they?"_

_"You!" Hiro pauses his physical tirade to shove an accusing finger up at him. "How could you do this to people? It's- It's just so wrong on so many different levels, I can't-" He pulls at his hair and shudders, forcing himself to look back up at this creature._

_"How could you not tell someone about this before they agree to your so-called contract? How? You withhold it on purpose, don't you? You don't tell them so they'll agree to whatever you say, and you trap them! You're a monster! You're all monsters!"_

_Kyubey only turns his head away to stare up at the moon._

 

_"None of you ever asked."_

 

_Hiro takes his Soul Gem, and is just about to send it shattering to the ground, when he feels a hand hold his arm in place._

_"Hiro, no," she gently commands, slowly coaxing his arm back to rest beside him._

_"Tell me," she keeps hold of his arm, and brings his face close to hers, whispering, pleading, "Is destroying your gem going to fix anything? You can't go back to change it, but you can continue to live. For yourself. For your brother. Do you remember what we talked about before? Have you changed your mind?"_

 

_He doesn't know what to say to that._

_They stare into each other for a long time as he lets her words sink deep into his mind._

 

_He takes a breath, decidedly much calmer now, and firmly shakes his head._

 

_"I would do it every time for him. I'll never regret it."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~*character-building*~  
> ~*angst-building*~  
> ~*building*~


	7. A Driving Force ❙すいりょく❙

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It just occurred to me that we're a little over halfway through the story o: whoa there  
> Also, I know that it was basically useless to include descriptions of each battlesuit, but it was a nice writing exercise trying to describe them in actual words instead of images lol! Also since Tadashi's would need some explanation, it just wouldn't fit to describe him and leave everyone else out.

 

          "Hands up."

 

          Hiro holds the portable scanner up in front of him, running it down the length of everyone's bodies, Tadashi and Baymax included. Kii stands beside him, following closely and watching in rapt fascination as he inputs the data into the computer.

          "This is so cool," she murmurs, eyes wide and practically sparkling as they stare at the screen.

          "I know, right?" Hiro flinches - Fred is suddenly at his other side, expression nearly identical. He rolls his eyes and continues typing information, a self-satisfied grin quickly growing on his face.

          "Alright, kids, settle down now."

          Tadashi snorts from his place behind him, but smiles proudly when he catches Hiro's eyes in a more reflective part of the screen.

 

          A couple of hours of concept work later, the group's excitement has deflated completely, the exhaustion of their night quickly coming back to haunt them. However, it's only when Fred suddenly dozes off whilst leaning over Tadashi's shoulder that they officially call it a night and pack up to leave. He goes to walk everyone outside and say goodbye, gently dragging Fred's body along.

          Kii is about to follow their lead when she feels Hiro hold her back by her sleeve.

          "So, earlier, what was that all about?"

          "...What d'you mean?"

          "That whole _super_ cheesy romantic-type thing you just had going on outside with my brother, duh," he smirks, watching in pure satisfaction as she goes red and struggles for a response.

          "...I- Quiet, you." She settles for turning away and lightly hitting the back of his head.

          "Hah! So when should I start planning the engagement party, hm? Personally, I'm thinking some maroon and maybe some dark purples for part of the color-scheme, but we can always change that if-"

          "Sh-Shut up, it wasn't like that!" She's covering her face now, groaning.

          "Yeah, alright" he answers sarcastically, still cackling.

          She looks up then, all color from her face disappearing, a silent shame and panic seeming to overtake her.

          "I...I told him about my wish," she meets his eyes before dropping her head again, and he stops cold, all amusement suddenly sucked out of the room.

          "...Oh."

          "Yeah."

          He doesn't even know what to say to that. Clearly, something heavy happened between her and his brother, and he wasn't quite sure at that moment if he was glad she had told him or not. Wishes...they were, more often than not, highly personal things. Heavier still was Hiro's own wish, which he had always firmly planned on not telling...not to mention the full brunt of the truth behind the magic.

          They avoid looking directly at each other, choosing instead to closely study the concrete floor.

          "So...how'd he take it?"

          She shrugs in his peripheral.

          "He understood it pretty well, I think."

          He nods.

 

          "...Hiro?"

          "Yeah?"

          "You're...he's gonna want to start demanding answers from you at some point."

          "...I...I know."

          "...You're gonna have to tell him someday."

          "...Someday. Not right now."

          "I'm sorry I told him. This probably just made things worse; he's definitely gonna start asking you more now, and- He asked, but I shouldn't have answered."

          "Hey- No, Kii..." He quickly shakes his head and lightly bumps his shoulder against hers, leaning into her.

 

          They don't say much after that.

 

* * *

  

          Tadashi worked silently at the computer in the currently empty garage, having been typing at a very consistent pace for what was easily at least an hour. Baymax stands at his side, equally quiet, but very clearly curious about the whole thing. The robot occasionally turns his head to observe Tadashi himself for a few moments, before turning back to watch the screen.

          "Tadashi."

          "Yes, Baymax?" He continues to face forward and type, not missing a beat.

          "Your neurotransmitters and heart rate appear to be behaving abnormally. Are you feeling unwell?"

          "What- No, not at all," he does pause then, spinning his chair to look up at Baymax, surprised. "I'm feeling fine, buddy, don't worry." He smiles and pats a rubber arm, but it doesn't seem to shift the robots attention to anything else in the least.

          "You have been highly focused on your current project for an extended period of time. Are you perhaps stressed?"

          He creator pauses at this, considering his response carefully.

          "I...I guess a little bit, maybe. But it's a good kind of stress." Baymax tilts his head.

          "A good stress?" He repeats. Tadashi nods patiently.

          "Yeah, like...Like I feel really good about the work I'm doing - Like it's going to do something good once it's done. So, I guess feeling a little stressed is just a part of that."

          He both sees and hears eyes refocusing and blinking mechanically, hoping he explained it correctly. When he doesn't receive another question, he turns back to his work.

          There's barely another line of code typed when he sees flashing in the corner of his eye. Spinning around, he's surprised to find Baymax at one of the extra monitors, information flashing rapidly and computerized noises whirring at the same speed.

          "...Baymax? What are you doing?"

          "Downloading information on: Mental Health. Download complete." Matter-of-factly, the robot straightens up and turns back to Tadashi, holding up a finger. "From the information I have obtained, you are currently experiencing: Eustress - meaning, 'good stress.' This indicates feelings of meaning, hope, and vigor in response to a stressor, and has been correlated with life-satisfaction and well-being. There is no treatment needed. The successful completion of your work is recommended, along with the continuation of proper nutrition and rest."

          "...I...Yes. Good job, Baymax," Tadashi smiles widely, amazed.

 

          "Gotta say, big bro, that's pretty impressive."

          Spinning the chair all the way around, he finds Hiro standing at the doorway, watching the two.

          "Thanks," he watches his little brother nervously, suddenly remembering his private conversations with Kii.

          Hiro is either completely aware of this, or can at least tell that Tadashi knows more than he probably should. His stance is a tell-all; he's guarded - much more quiet and careful in his movements than he normally is, arms wrapped securely around him. In this, there lies an opportunity to prod him more for complete honesty.

          He decides it isn't worth it right this minute.

          "So," he starts, barely managing to pretend he hasn't noticed anything off. He waves a hand to the screen, "What d'you think about these?"

          Hiro pushes himself off of the doorframe and comes to inspect the nearly finalized designs for the team's battlesuits, humming in appreciation.

          "Nice, but maybe add some sort of super-jumping ability to Fred's, Honey Lemon's case could use a bit of tweaking with the structure itself - like, make more room for more possible chemical combinations, y'know? - and I think Gogo would do better if her foot-wheels were placed a little more...this way," he gestures with his hand over the screen, and Tadashi nods, picturing the differences in his mind.

          "Good ideas, definitely. Thanks," they grin at each other, but Hiro still seems troubled, looking away to the protective armor assigned to Baymax.

          "...So, what about Baymax, then? Is this gonna be it?"

          "Well...yeah," Tadashi frowns, eyeing the design himself. "I mean, Baymax isn't a battle-bot, he's a medic-bot. It makes more sense to just keep his original armor with some minor enhancements."

          "Yeah, I know he's not a battle-bot, but..."

          "...But?"

          Hiro is silent for a moment, sighing and standing back up to full height, throwing a hand out to gesture at the robot, who watches them curiously.

          "Tadashi...I think he should at least know some defensive moves."

          "...Hiro, that's-"

          "Look, I know!" Hiro cuts him off, eyes flashing with a curious determination and body tensing, hands curling in and out. "You didn't make him for that, and I get it! But...So what happens to him when he's just there on the sidelines waiting for us, huh? What happens if an attack gets thrown his way? Would the armor just protect him from everything? Is he really just gonna stand still the whole time? That's...That's not really much use, and we could _really_ use his size. Plus, are you _really_ gonna be able carry him everywhere? What if you need to attack or defend, but you've got your hands full of robot?"

          He seems to remember himself and breathes in and out to calm himself, turning around and taking a few steps away before turning back.

          "Look, sorry, I- Just think about it, alright? Some basic karate moves, and maybe even some flight to help us get around and scan the city better. Just...Just think about it." And he's gone, rushing back into the house before Tadashi can even respond.

          The robot and his creator share a glance, before he breathes out roughly and turns back to the computer, typing with a newfound sense of urgency.

 

          Hiro rushes around the bend and tucks himself into a corner for a minute, gripping his Soul Gem tightly in both hands as he tries desperately to calm his frantic pulse.

 

* * *

 

 

          One by one, the members of their new team try on their suits. Each was carefully customized to their unique projects and specialties, and they practice their mask-fetching with Fred's long-suffering yet compliant butler Heathcliff in place of their villain.

          Honey Lemon's resembled her usual feminine style, pink from head to toe, and armed with a specialized purse, filled to capacity with various chemicals and solutes, and using a system of conveyer belts and something of a tank tread to move ball-shaped containers through the main compartment and fill them with whatever combination she types into the system on the digitalized cover.

          Where she was pink, Gogo was the yellow ranger, suit carefully shaped in an aerodynamic manner, and her weapon being her mag-lev discs, two on the outside of each leg, and two on her back, to be used as projectiles or on either of her wrists. It required practice, needing the type of balancing skill found in ice-skaters or rollerbladers, but true to her nature, she quickly gets to hang of it and is soon whirring around Fred's extensive backyard faster than anyone can truly see.

          Wasabi's was built to enhance his, formerly, rarely-used martial arts skills, the mostly green and blue suit designed almost like a samurai. Around his wrists sat gauntlets created especially to house a redesign of his plasma blade project, shaped into true blade-form. While he lacked a helmet - which he complained extensively about, citing basic safety - he donned a visor and headphones with the very same integrated communication system that everyone else got.

          Out of all, Fred's was the one that seemed truly meant for him, design based off his usual mascot costume and tailored to battle-needs. The large blue and orange kaiju was more than well-received by him, fitting his constant requests to be turned into the 'fake-science' monster of his dreams, but what had him positively ecstatic was his ability to super-jump, and the very useful mechanism of fire 'breath'.

          Tadashi, always more of a pacifist than a fighter, only bore an enhanced version of his rocket skates as well as small laser gauntlets, his highly-defensive armor of blacks and purples being the more powerful feature. What he lacked in fire-power, though, he made up with what he next had in store for the team.

          "Everyone, presenting...Baymax 2.0!"

          Now Baymax...Baymax was truly the star of the show, stepping out into the open in front of his new teammates and taking a strong, heroic stance in his new armor.

          ...Well, a heroic pose just before spotting a butterfly and immediately refocusing on trying to follow it around.

          Mostly red with purple accents, it seemed much stronger than his first set, and definitely showed more power. Hiro, excitedly bouncing on his heels, rushed to spin around him for a closer look, and could spot a few additions that housed, he assumed, at least some basic weaponry-type items to aid the team. He stops when he looks at his back and stares up, slack-jawed and pointing weakly up at it.

          "...Is...Is that...?"

          Tadashi raises a brow and grins.

          "Baymax, why don't you show everyone the new addition?"

          From his back sprouted two large wings, and Hiro instantly shouts out with glee.

          "Tadashi says flying makes me a better healthcare companion," the robot explains simply, though seeming unconvinced himself.

          "And the other thing, Baymax?"

          After a moment of confusion and some further prompting from Tadashi, Baymax holds out a hand in a fist...and it blasts out from the rest of his suit at the wrist, blasting a large hole in one of the walls spread amongst Fred's garden, also taking out a statue that happened to be in the way. Fred doesn't even seem to care one bit, losing it in excitement right along with Hiro.

          " _Rocket fist!_ Oh man, I can't even believe it! This is so _great_! Tadashi!" He spins on his heel and beams up at his brother. "This is incredible!"

          "Well, I couldn't have done it without you, bud," he responds in kind, ruffling Hiro's hair, and pauses. "You were right. I'm sorry I was hard to talk to, but all of your ideas work wonderfully, and...I'm sorry."

          Hiro's giddiness dies down to a low shyness, and he looks up gratefully, "...Thanks, man."

 

          "Right, well, if you're done with your _familial-bonding_ moment, I'd like to know where exactly we go from here."

          "Gogo..." Honey Lemon sighs disapprovingly, "It was such a nice moment..."

          "From here, Baymax tests out his flying, and we scan the city," Tadashi straightens up, preparing to launch himself into the air as well. In his peripheral, he sees a build-up of light, and turns to see Hiro transformed and crawling up onto the free space in between Baymax's wings. "Hiro-"

          "Say whatever you want, but I am _so not_ missing this!" He wraps his arms firmly around Baymax's neck and grins down at him, playfully rolling his eyes and bracing his feet on the armor. "Come on, Tadashi, I'll be fine - promise. Superpowers, remember?"

          Tadashi shakes his head and sighs, "Alright, I guess. But only because I know there's no way I'm getting you off of him now." He looks up pointedly, and Hiro sticks his tongue out.

          "Ready, Baymax? Now!"

          Tadashi's rocket skates start up, followed by Baymax's, and in the blink of an eye, the robot is suddenly hurtling up clumsily through the air. Hiro is heard screaming with simultaneous fear and joy, his brother automatically going pale and speeding after them, shouting his concerns.

          Baymax is fighting for control of himself, rushing through the city with Tadashi on his heels and barely dodging buildings and various modes of transportation, onlookers completely caught off-guard and shouting in surprise, watching the scene as it passes them. In record time, they reach the famed San Fransokyo Bridge, and they climb the air to the very top of one of the tall torii-inspired structures, hitting it once with a loud bang and finally managing to come to a rest.

          Tadashi follows and as soon as he lands, runs to check on his brother.

          "Hiro! Hiro, are you alright?"

          Catching his breath and everything about him completely and comically windswept, Hiro can't wipe the smile off his face.

          "Oh...Oh man...that...was sick!" He laughs, patting the robot's shoulders affectionately. "You could _definitely_ use some more practice, but we're not getting rid of this feature!"

          "I do not understand - are you feeling unwell from our flight?" Hiro laughs again, shaking his head.

          "Just an expression - I really _really_ enjoyed it!"

          Tadashi huffs out a relieved laugh, which leads to a more genuine one, leaning against Baymax.

          "You did good for your first trip, buddy - good job! That's enough flying for today, I think." He looks up at his blank face, still out of breath and adjusting his helmet, "What d'you say?"

          Baymax quietly observes the two, quickly running a scan and going over the results.

          "Your neurotransmitter levels are rising steadily," he announces, seeming to come to a conclusion, startling Hiro into a slight worry.

          "Which...means what?"

          "You are both: Happy. Tadashi's project has been successful."

          Hiro and Tadashi look blankly at each other.

          "Project? Is he talking about the suits?"

          Tadashi shrugs, "I-I guess, I mean, he thought I was stressing out the other night, so-"

          Baymax is precariously tilting over the ledge.

          "Whoa whoa whoa," Hiro braces himself again, now very frightened. Tadashi steps forward.

          "Baymax-!"

          ...And Baymax and Hiro are falling.

          "Hiro!" Tadashi jumps off after them, fully intent on catching them or at least breaking the fall.

 

          " _Baymax!_ "

         

          Hiro and Tadashi's long shouts of panic are suddenly interrupted just as they're about to reach the water, Baymax throwing on his rockets and shooting across the Bay. Suddenly, the robot seems to be very much in control.

          Tadashi can do nothing but follow steadily at their side, struck dumb, without any words at all to spare.

          Hiro's face is lighting up like the city at night again as they rise back into the air, and when they're seemingly done climbing, he throws himself up onto his feet.

          " _Hiro_ -!"

          Paying no mind to his brother's instinctively thrown out hand to grab at and steady him, Hiro stands confidently - and strangely perfectly still - throwing his hands out to feel the wind and laugh loudly.

          "This is _amazing_!"

          "Flying makes me a better healthcare companion," Baymax seems to confirm to himself.

          They fly steadily through the city, weaving in and around buildings and gates and bridges, all as if they were nothing. All the while, Hiro stands proudly to get the full experience of it, whooping and shouting at intervals and watching his reflection in some of the skyscraper windows they whir around.

          Not for the first time, Tadashi can do nothing but watch and silently wonder at just how far Hiro's superhuman abilities go.

 

          After a full practice run - or maybe it was two - through the entire city, the trio sit atop one of the many colorful wind turbine blimps tethered amongst the many buildings, relaxing for a little while together and enjoying their unique view of the setting sun in the distance.

          "Man..." Hiro sits between them and continues to stare ahead. "That was..."

          "Sick," Baymax finishes, turning his head down to look at him. The two brothers stare up in shock for a moment, and the robot turns his head away, almost slyly. "It is just an expression," he explains, and Hiro laughs.

          "That's...That's right, buddy," he turns to Tadashi, who shrugs and stares in awe at his creation.

 

          If he didn't know any better, he'd say that Baymax was legitimately learning how to be a human.

 

          Shaking his head of that before he could give himself a headache, he carefully stands, helping Hiro up with him.

          "Alright Baymax, let's see if you can find that guy."

          Baymax stands with them and turns on his new and improved scanning system, turning his head around every way to get a full view and scan of the entire city. After merely a few seconds, he stops to face an island in the distance, sitting over in the Bay by itself.

          "There," he points.

 

* * *

 

 

          The full team is fetched from Fred's home, where they've been doing their own practices and waiting patiently for their return. Hiro stays on Baymax's back, joined by Honey Lemon and Gogo on either side, Fred carried in one of the robot's hands, and Wasabi clutching tightly to the other arm, refusing to look down and complaining intermittently about his fear of heights. Realizing there is no room for Kii, who cannot fly, Tadashi offers to carry her on his back.

          Hiro snorts lowly, barely disguising it as a cough, and attempting to hold his laughter in. She throws an indignant glare his way before stuttering an acceptance to the offer, climbing on and refusing to look directly at her friend.

          Soon enough, they're in the air and all else is forgotten, and from his perch, Hiro nods his head toward the island.

          "Baymax says he's somewhere in there - it could be his base."

          "His secret lair," Fred enunciates, now in full superhero-mode.

 

          As soon as they land and manage to get into the building with Wasabi's help, they already find themselves in some trouble, with Baymax's scanner unable to be of any more use due to some sort of interference within the structure. Eventually, alongside an impromptu theme song from the one and only Fred - and Wasabi's threat of a laser-hand to the face - Honey Lemon finds a room of interest.

          The room is huge, empty except for a very large, but mostly-destroyed piece of technology sitting amongst more wreckage. It's circular in shape, and almost like it was meant to be some sort of huge gate, Tadashi guesses. All is silent except for themselves as they inspect their surroundings.

          "What do you think it is...?" Gogo asks, mostly to Tadashi and Hiro.

          "I-I'm not sure, but look..." Hiro points out a specific part, where a sticker was placed with the same bird symbol he had drawn for them days earlier.

          "Hiro," Honey Lemon points out a smaller room, separated from the rest - a control room.

          Baymax lightly swings opens the heavy and creaky door, holding it for the rest and they pass through and look around for any signs of their target. Instead, they find a large screen with the symbol glowing ominously upon it in red and black. Pressing a button, Hiro triggers it to show an array of security camera boxes, all blacked-out except for one, showing a group of people standing in the very same room they currently did. The man in the center catches their attention immediately.

          "Krei..."

          He rewinds it to the last day the cameras had recorded and hits play, showing the larger room as it once was - stark white with light, and two structures in one piece instead of just the damaged one.

          "Right," the voice of Krei filters through, "We were asked to do the impossible, and that's what we did."

          He's walking along a platform in front of one of the gates with what appear to be military officials.

          "We've reinvented the very concept of transportation...Friends - I present, Project Silent Sparrow."

          The team watches with all attention of what transpires. Krei activates the gates, and they're shown to be some sort of portal system. He shows an example, taking the hat of one of the men and sending it through their gate, only for it to be caught a moment later as it shoots out the other and into the waiting arms of an assistant.

          "Whoa," Fred announces, "Magic hat!"

          The group of men and women follow Krei into the control room as he further explains the project, gearing them up for the next test: sending a human test subject - Abigail, it seemed her name was - in a capsule-like rocket through the portal. One of the scientists at the control panel alerts Krei to an irregularity in the magnetic containment field, but he's quickly brushed off by him, Krei clearly unwilling to let the group leave without a proper demonstration and assures the man that it is well within the safety parameters.

          Abigail goes through one gate, but doesn't come out the other side.

          Something's happened - they've lost all contact with her, and the portal instantly begins to act up, bursting into flame in a small explosion, breaking it. The other portal is beginning to take in everything around it, taking apart the room bit by bit, taking one of the cameras with it. Krei is demanded to shut it down, and he follows without question, rushing to prevent any further damage and danger.

          "The government shut down Krei's experiment," Hiro realizes.

          "And he's using your microbots to steal back his other machine," Honey finishes.

          "Krei's the guy in the mask!"

          Behind them, a large object is lifted, thrown directly at them.

 

          Saved just in time by Baymax, using his large size to shield them and throw the rubble out of they way, they quickly pull themselves up and gear up for battle, spotting the bright mask looming ahead with his army of stolen microbots.

          "Seriously, what's the plan?" Wasabi looks back and forth between Gogo and Honey Lemon.

          "Get the mask," the former grunts, rushing off on her own.

          "Right behind you!" And now Honey's gone, leaving Wasabi to struggle after them.

          "For real - _what is the plan_?!"

 

          Their first battle as a team goes absolutely terrible.

 

          Without an actual battle plan except for 'get the mask', everyone simply splits up, going about all by themselves and without any coordination with or around their teammates. Even Hiro and Kii, the only ones there with heavy experience in fighting alongside each other are stumbling over themselves and each other, unable to follow even a simple choreography with everyone else rushing around them and getting in the way. It was a failed attempt from the start, but they continue onwards, following the man they presume to be Krei around and keeping him - and his mask - in sight, jumping at it every chance they can get.

          Eventually, one by one, they slam into each other and are sent off to the sidelines in a heap, some injured more than others. Krei is preparing to crush them, forming the microbots into a large block above them, when Tadashi and Baymax slam into him, throwing him into his brother's line of attack. He quickly sends Baymax over to help the others and rushes after Hiro and Kii to help them corner Krei.

          He hears another collision, the group landing roughly on the floor down a set of stairs to one of the former platforms to the teleportation gates. He swiftly flies over to join them, and-

          There they are. Hiro and Krei are closest to each other, the mask directly between them. Hiro is the first to recover, lifting his head up and making an instant grab, holding it tightly to his chest in victory. He pulls himself up to stand, glaring down at the man still laying down and catching his breath.

          "It's over, Krei."

          Slowly but surely, the man pulls himself up with a few grunts of pain, still facing away. They wait with bated breath, hearts racing and eyes unblinking as they prepare to face down their enemy once and for all.

          The man stands to full height, and he turns around to glare down at them.

          Hiro goes slack as he looks up at that familiar face.

 

          "Pr-...Professor Callaghan?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my favorite chapters to write so far, but I'm really looking forward to writing the next one, hahaha.


	8. I Would Never Let That Happen ❙そんなの、あたしが許さない❙

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aka: The Fall of Hiro

 

_This weird animal-thing has been following him around for a week, now - Kyubey, Hiro remembers, if only because of it's totally strange uniqueness._

_A strange, freaky looking, talking animal that claimed to be able to grant wishes in exchange for a 'contract' with him._

_Get whatever you want for a one-time-only deal, then fight monsters for the rest of your life while you reap the benefits of your wish! Seems legit._

_Why was it even so hell-bent on getting him to make a wish and become a 'magical girl' in the first place? Hiro was clearly a boy, but aside from that, how could this thing possibly grant wishes? What on Earth was even happening to him? Was he just going crazy? Was this meant to be his first ongoing hallucination and voice in his head? Hiro didn't understand any of this. All he knew was that he was the only one able to see him so far, and that, man, was this thing_ annoying!

_He just appeared so suddenly the day he started trying to think up ideas for the student showcase, and he pretty much refused to leave him be. Sure, he'd manage to get him to scram for a little while, but he had this annoying habit of coming back each time, and finding him wherever he was._

 

_Creepy._

 

 _Whatever. Hiro had a project to focus on - a project he most definitely was_ not _going to wish for, Kyubey._

 

* * *

   

         Hiro hears everyone gasp or mutter under their breath, but he pays no mind. All he can seem to do is stare ahead at the man he once admired so greatly.

 

         The man Tadashi almost died for.

 

         "Nice dress, kid," he comments, nodding once at Hiro's ensemble.

         Hiro doesn't care about that.

         "...The...the explosion..." he shakes his head in disbelief, looking down for a moment before looking back up, "...You died..."

         "No," Callaghan says simply, "I had your microbots."

 

         He's so distant, so _cold_ about it, Hiro briefly notes in the back of his mind. How could such a good man become so... _evil?_

This was all just so _wrong_.

         This was not at all how things was supposed to go.

         The implications of this are astounding. Did Callaghan set the fire himself? Did he purposely burn that building to the ground and put so many in danger _just_ to take Hiro's project?

 

         "...But...Tadashi..."

 

         He put _Tadashi_ in danger.

         Tadashi was ready to run in and throw his entire life away just to try to rescue him.

 

* * *

 

 _"Tadashi,_ no! _You can't go in there!"_

_His voice is stern, but his face betrays him. Hiro is terrified and desperate to keep his brother away from the fire._

_Tadashi struggles, and for just a moment, he looks like he's seriously considering remaining outside._

_He quickly defaults._

_"Someone has to help!"_

_He pulls his arm free, and he's off, running full speed up the stairs as Hiro screams for him to stop._

_"Tadashi!_ Stop! _"_

_He runs a few steps after him, but has to stop when his emotions get the better of him and he trips, falling to his knees. Looking up, he can see Tadashi's silhouette get smaller._

 

_"Hiro!"_

_He tears his eyes away and looks to his side, where Kyubey is suddenly sitting next to him on the ground, tail flicking back and forth calmly. His tiny red eyes bore into him, catching the reflection of the flames, making them more red than ever before._

 

_"Hiro, you can save your brother! All you have to do is make a wish!"_

 

_Everything feels like it's happening in slow motion._

 

_He feels the fire get hotter and hotter._

 

_He can hear the distant crackling and snapping of the building beginning to collapse._

 

__Tadashi's going to die in there._ _

 

* * *

 

         Hiro just barely notices Kyubey perched on a support beam somewhere beyond Callaghan, staring down at the scene impassively.

         Ah. So he's waiting, then.

         He could probably sense this from miles away.

         Hiro doesn't care about that, either.

         He thinks maybe the others have noticed too - he can hear Wasabi whisper to someone, "What's that alien-thing doing here?"

 

          "...Tadashi almost died..."

         Callaghan doesn't answer to this.

         "Give me the mask, Hiro," he demands, stepping forward aggressively and reaching a hand out. Hiro backs up just as much, shaking his head again and growing more restless.

 

         "...He went in there to _save you!_ "

         " _That was his mistake!_ "

 

* * *

 

_Hiro screws his eyes shut tightly, hearing the start of an explosion that would make him an only child._

 

 

 "I wish for Tadashi to escape this unharmed!"

 

 

 _Kyubey's eyes glint brighter in the bright light of the destruction in front of them. It was almost as if nothing else existed for those few seconds, the scene going almost completely black around them. His long, arm-like ears stretch forward to- no,_ into _Hiro._

 _He can feel Kyubey_ take something _from him._

 

 

_Hiro's pained scream is covered by the sound of windows shattering in the large backdraft, sending his brother flying back onto the steps - alive, and completely unharmed._

 

* * *

 

 

         Oh.

         That was it.

         There it was.

         Hiro could feel something inside of him snap and twist sharply.

         He hears Baymax come to stand behind him.

 

         "...I'll kill you," he hears himself say, "Baymax - destroy." Callaghan seems somewhat taken aback by this.

         Good.

 

         "My programming does not allow me to harm a human being-"

         "Not anymore!"

         He reaches a hand back and opens the chip port before Tadashi or any of the others have the time to respond. Taking out the medi-chip, he leaves only the extra one Tadashi had put in for battle and shoves it closed. He throws the medi-chip off to the side as far as he can, still staring straight ahead at the former professor, who is slowly starting to take a few steps back.

         "Hiro-!"

         His brother starts toward him, but it's a few moments too late. With Baymax's personality and original coding out of the way, his eyes refocus into a menacing red, reminding him briefly of Kyubey. Hiro takes the lead, summoning his weapon and using his extra magic to force his team away from him in a large and destructive blast. Callaghan forgoes getting the mask back in favor of backing away more quickly, ready to bolt out of there with at least his life.

 

         "Do it, Baymax! Destroy him!"

 

         Baymax sends his rocket fist ahead, just missing the man by a hair, and Callaghan is off, ducking into the shadows and attempting to lose their sight. Gogo slides down quickly to hold Baymax back, shouting at him to stop, but the robot easily tosses her off of his arm. Tadashi goes to make a grab for Hiro, but he's blasted away and slams right into Kii, who could only just sit there and watch, horrified into stillness.

 

         Kyubey keeps his seat, eyes glowing noticeably in the dark as he watches the show.

 

         Hiro takes the lead again, feeling his power swell and crackle painfully under his skin, feeling ready to burst at any second. As he lets Baymax do the spotting for him with his advanced robotic vision, smashing everything in his path, he feels himself practically skating across the floor, sending blast after blast after the retreating shadow and taking out larger chunks of the room. Face splitting into a maddened grimace, he has to bark out a laugh as he sees him fall onto his back, scrambling frantically out of the way of the robot, who's already locked onto him and is steadily advancing. Nearly on top of him, the robot aims a rocket fist directly down at him, when Fred is suddenly sailing through the air and knocking him off-course and into a wall.

         Coming up to take his place, Hiro is about to pick up where he left off when he too feels a force slam into him, knocking the mask out of his hand and across the floor. Looking up and over, he can barely even see with his shaking vision his very own magical partner, standing strongly and poised for a possible fight against him, albeit clearly reluctantly.

         "Hiro, stop!" She bellows loudly, and he finds he has to compliment her strong commanding, at least in a small part of his mind. If they hadn't been in this particular situation, he may have even been afraid of her in that moment. "We're meant to fight Witches, _not_ him!"

         "Stay out of this, Kii!" He shouts back, attempting to take aim again. Almost as a mere afterthought, he destroys the portion of floor in front of her, sending her back a few feet, and out of his way.

         His voice almost sounds distorted in his ears. It's a strange feeling, hearing his own voice sound so very unfamiliar.

         "This isn't your fight!"

 

Another body slams into him, pinning him to the ground with surprising strength.

          "Hiro, you have to stop!"

Tadashi.

 

He struggles even further against his brother's arms, an almost completely visible blackened electricity crackling in the air around him.

"He's getting away!"

          Callaghan manages to retrieve the mask, securing it back onto his head, and makes for a swift escape out of the melee around him with the microbots.

 

          "Baymax!"

          Gogo and Fred and Wasabi are piling onto the robot, trying to hold him back with all they've got as he raises a rocket fist once more. They can hear it charge and brace themselves, not moving as they're tossed roughly to the floor once again like dolls, awaiting their failure.

 

          But this doesn't happen.

          After a sudden onset of silence and stillness, they look up and find that Honey Lemon's managed to grab and shove the medi-chip back into it's port just in time. Baymax's eyes return to normal, and he quickly stops his struggle, looking confused at the scene around him.

          Hiro only stares up at the last of Callaghan, as he leaves the building through a large hole in the roof.

          "My healthcare protocol has been violated," Baymax states, tilting his head and watching the majority of the team catch their breath and drag themselves back up to stand, aiding Fred as he struggles the most. "I regret any distress I may have caused."

 

          All heads turn back to Hiro as an incredibly loud and impossibly animalistic scream erupts from his small body. He's at last able to roughly push Tadashi off of him and pull himself to sit upright, glaring around as he stands on quivering legs like a baby deer.

          "How could you do that? _I had him_!"

He throws a fist out and sends another blast flying across the room, demolishing a wall and turning the rubble in its path into a fine dust.

          Wasabi holds his hands up calmly but sternly as the explosive sound dies, taking a slow step toward him.

          "What you just did, we _never_ signed up for."

          The others look varying degrees of angry, but mostly betrayed, echoing their agreements.

          "We said we'd _catch_ the guy - _that's it_ ," Gogo decisively takes her betrayal to the more angry side, clearly furious as he approaches them.

          "I never should have let you help me," Hiro shouts, pointing a finger in her face, looking down the line at everyone else. "And you!" He spins to face Kii, who stares calmly back at him in her civilian clothing. "You know better than _anyone else_ why-"

          "Why you did that," she finishes patiently, nodding once. "I do know, Hiro, and you know that I understand it - but that doesn't mean I should just stand by and allow it."

          He breathes heavily, opening his mouth to snap back when that painful, sharp twinge inside of him comes back, stronger than ever. His face instantly twists into a pained horror as he loses feeling in his legs and falls straight down into a heap on the floor, his transformation automatically undoing itself and dissolving his costume into darkening strands of a dying light. It takes him a long moment to realize that the loud cry he had just heard had actually come from him. She's by his side in an instant, pulling a Grief Seed out of her pocket and holding it tightly in her fist, and the others at once begin to lose their anger, instead suddenly stuck staring down at him in shock and worry.

          "Hiro?"

          Tadashi scrambles across the floor, Honey Lemon dropping to her knees on his other side, ready to help in any she can. Baymax waddles up, in full medi-bot mode despite still donning all of his armor.

          "I heard a sound of distress. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

          "Not now, Baymax," Tadashi softly pushes him back a few steps.

          Kii only holds her hands up to block any of them from coming too close, keeping her eyes down at her friend. She gently places a hand on his face and turns it to face her, holding the Grief Seed directly in his line of vision.

          "Hiro, your Soul Gem."

          He starts to summon it, but has to stop, gripping his shirt as he writhes through another wave of torturous pain shooting throughout every cell in his body like lightening, and indeed, the sounds of an electrical discharge can be heard buzzing suddenly around his body. He screams again for a few seconds, an almost deafening boom in the ears of his brother and friends, but after some struggle, he shakily summons it, holding it out in his quivering palm.

          The sharp intake of breath around him and the way Kii closes her eyes and turns her head away for a moment would have been proof enough if he hadn't already guessed earlier that evening. Managing to get his head to move, just a little, he looks down at his hand and sees what he'd already known.

          His Soul Gem's color isn't at all like it should be, darkened into a deep, blood red, slowly blackening from the top into a tiny void with his dying energy crackling around it. The color fights to stay, but it's clearly losing, and each time, he feels the pain come back in wave after wave of torture. There was no way that just one Grief Seed could help him, he thinks to himself. Absolutely no way - he's much too far gone. If this is it, though, he might as well use what little humanity he has left to sort through his final thoughts.

 

          He tries to laugh, but it's only a breath, and with it, he can feel tears suddenly pour down his face, as if a gate had been opened and unleashed them.

          "...I could've...could've just held you back..." he says to the ceiling, not daring to face anyone, much less his brother. "If I had...If I had just held you back a little while longer...this wouldn't've had to happen...All I had to do was hold you back, but I didn't even...I couldn't even do that."

 

          Kii presses the Seed hard against his Gem, silently willing it to drag the darkness out of it faster. He feels Tadashi squeeze him gently - when did he take him into his arms? Just how much time was even passing right now? Hiro wasn't quite sure if he could even feel anything anymore.

 

          "...I-I...I wasted it...I completely wasted my wish..."

 

          Forcing himself finally to look over when he feels something on his face, he's surprised to see Tadashi leaning directly over him, his own tears spilling out of widened eyes full of the purest form of terror, presumably putting the pieces together. Hiro looks back up and spots Kyubey again, always there to watch the most interesting parts of his game. They stare each other down, even as Hiro twitches and writhes in his brother's arms.

          In place of blood, despair runs coursing through each and every vein, taking him into its clutches from the inside out.

 

 

_Ah. So this is what it's like..._

 

_This is what it is to become..._

 

 

          But, to his surprise, this is not the end of Hiro Hamada's short and interesting life.

          Instead, he begins to feel cleansed, and gradually, the pain ebbs away until it's nothing more than a faint buzzing he can barely feel under his skin.

          "...That's about all I'm getting out of this one, I think."

          Kii throws the used Grief Seed over her shoulder, and he's relieved to see Kyubey break their staring contest first to go fetch it. In fact, overall, he's feeling much better. His Gem still isn't totally and completely clean, he sees, which makes sense, but it's actually just about there - comparatively miles better than how it was before. She looks down with a tired smile and lays a hand protectively over his Gem.

          "That'll get you at least a week or so. I'll go out hunting tonight and see if I can't get another one right away." Her lips lose their upturn, and she now stares down at him in disappointment. "You should have told me, Hiro. We could've taken care of this before we even came here."

          He frowns and leans up, not looking at anyone else anymore, keeping his eyes on his hands as he sends his Gem away.

 

          "Ah, what a shame."

 

          Collectively, they look over at Kyubey, who has just finished 'eating' the small object and now makes his way back to them. Kii stiffens, spinning around to block him from Hiro, who instinctively curls in on himself, nearly growling.

          "What's wrong, Incubator? Wanted to see the ending to the show?" He's caught between wanting to burrow further into his group and wanting to face Kyubey more personally. The alien sits and scratches behind an ear with his leg.

          "It truly is too bad, Hiro. You have such potential to be quite a powerful-"

 

          Hiro is the only one who isn't startled when the little body is suddenly impaled - nearly torn clean in half - by one of Kii's glaives. The rest had been so focused on Kyubey that they hadn't even noticed her summoning it. She's crouched into a battle stance, breathing heavily.

          "You should learn to take a hint and leave when you're not wanted, Kyubey," she states calmly, as if discussing the weather. Hiro thinks he can hear Honey gasp in terror, and Wasabi gag. He doesn't blame either or them.

          Standing, she pulls the spear out of the ground, taking the body with it. Twirling it around twice, she suddenly points it at a dark corner.

          "Eat up."

          From the darkness comes another Kyubey, exactly like the one they had just been talking to. It marches right up to the business end of the glaive and takes part of the body into its mouth, beginning to chew and swallow it. Hiro hears another few gasps and some gagging. He doesn't blame anyone for that either. When the new Kyubey is finished, he licks his paws, so infuriatingly cat-like, so innocent, and looks up curiously at Kii.

          "I don't understand humans generally, Miss Kii, but I especially don't understand you and Hiro, it would seem," it says, turning to take its leave, and looking over at them one last time, nodding once in farewell.

          "Miss Kii, Hiro."

          "Incubator," they respond in kind.

          Hiro shudders involuntarily, and relaxes once it's gone from sight.

 

          "I...I wanna go home now..."

          Tadashi's arms tighten protectively around him.

          "We'll go home, then," he promises, nodding.

          But Hiro frowns and shakes his head.

          "Kii."

          She seems to know at once what he wants of her, and she glances around nervously before answering.

          "Hiro...are you sure that's-"

          "Kii," he cuts her off, locking her in a momentary battle of wills.

          She loses.

          "A-Alright," she nods slowly, sighing. "Alright, we'll...let's go."

 

          As he pushes himself out of Tadashi's arms and stands, he feels himself held back.

          "And just where in the world do you think you're going?"

          Gogo seems perfectly ready to fight him on this, already standing up with him and clutching his arm in a tightening grip. He shakes her off with surprising ease and doesn't answer, stepping away from them and taking Baymax by the arm, leading him closer to Kii.

          "Hiro, _stop it_." Tadashi stands quickly and reaches out to turn Hiro's head to face him. "You're not just going to run away from this. We're _going_ to _talk_ about it."

          The small boy shrugs him off too, turning away once more.

          "I'll be home later," he states, before climbing up onto Baymax's back, gesturing for his friend to do the same.

          She hesitates, looking back over apologetically to Tadashi.

          "Kii, please," he sighs, imploring her to be the reasonable one here.

          The guilt is almost too much. She's been willing to keep him in on most of the secret, and he's trusted her with not only Hiro's safety, but to also be honest with him - to be on his side. They've grown to be almost friends, she's hoped.

          "I..." She manages to keep eye-contact with him, despite clearly wanting so badly to tear her eyes away and never look anywhere near him again.

          "Let's go."

          Hiro keeps his eyes firmly down.

          She reaches out to lightly grip Baymax's arm, but stays still, something clearly on the tip of her tongue.

 

          "Tadashi...You asked me once, what happens when a Soul Gem becomes too dark."

          "I did," he nods slowly, bracing himself.

          "Do you still want to know?"

          This catches him off-guard. He saw how Hiro writhed and twisted in agony, and he was sure that at the very least, he would have died - but was this wrong?

          "...I do."

          She pulls herself up onto the robot, who's prepared to leave at any moment that Hiro commands, and she continues to look down at him. He thinks of it as a challenge, to keep their gazes locked on each other despite the overwhelming knowledge he knows he is about to receive.

          Just over the sound of Baymax's rockets, he can hear her answer clear as day.

 

 

 

          "We become Witches."

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

_"On this planet, half-grown women are called 'girls,' right? In that case, it's appropriate that you, who will one day grow into Witches, should be called 'Magical Girls."_

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> may edit this at some point, idk


	9. The Final Sign ❙最後に残った道しるべ❙

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry this took so long aaaaaahh!! I had to focus on an animation project whose deadline was quickly coming up, so I kinda lost my writing-spirit for a little bit x_x idk I feel a bit out of practice already and feel like this chapter isn't really the best it could've been, but I'm so tired of working on it hahaa OTL

 

         The ride back to the mainland was silent.

         Mostly.

 

         "...Hiro-"

         "I don't wanna talk right now."

 

         "...Do you really think it was okay to just lea-"

         Hiro's head snaps around so quickly that it nearly gives him whiplash, and he fixes the hardest of stares he can conjure up directly onto her, silencing her instantly.

         "Kii. Not now - I'm serious."

 

         Slowly, she takes a breath and shrinks back slightly, nodding stiffly.

         "...Alright. Not now."

         She visibly winces and curls more into herself.

 

         Hiro looks away and focuses instead on everything else - the city and all it's inhabitants passing quickly beneath them, a helicopter passing overhead, anything else - and he tries not to look too guilty.

 

* * *

 

         "...Well, this sucks."

 

         In the fifteen or so minutes since Hiro and Kii's abrupt departure, taking Baymax and most of their collective hope with them, not much was said between the remaining members of their failed team. Occasionally, either Honey or Fred would attempt to make some small talk to distract from the elephant in the room, but this was, each time, quickly abandoned in favor of more silent brooding.

         "No worries, dudes, Heathcliff'll be here soon..." Despite his encouraging tone, even Fred's spirit is clearly dampened as his wobbly smile falls almost immediately. He quickly looks down, turning away, and half-heartedly kicks a chunk of rock across the ground.

 

         Furthest from any of them, perched atop a platform of broken concrete and rubble, sits Tadashi. None of the others dare to bother him, taking his turned back to them as not an insult, but a warning. Fred thinks he can see his shoulders shake, his whole body quiver from time to time, but he looks away and says nothing of it.

         Gogo notices this, just as she notices lots of things, and she eventually decides that Fred, for all his faults, is a very good friend.

 

         To pass the time, and perhaps even be of some use, Honey and Wasabi quietly explore the remnants of the control room, citing the fact that they didn't have much time to before Callaghan came in and interrupted.

         They come to the conclusion that they must be either incredibly good detectives, or incredibly lucky.

         "Guys!"

         Heads snap over to Wasabi, who leans out from their entry point into the room. Fred can see Tadashi quickly wiping his eyes with a sleeve, but doesn't say anything.

         "We found something."

 

* * *

 

          They eventually make their landing just outside of Hiro's garage, and his two companions watch as he aggressively forces the door open and storms inside, following in after him carefully.

         "Your blood pressure is elevated," Baymax notes.

         "Yeah," he answers out of habit, immensely distracted by his new personal mission.

         Hiro slams his helmet onto one of the desks, moving swiftly to grab a step ladder and swings it open in front of Baymax. Getting right down to business, he lifts the helmet from the robots head and practically throws it onto another desk, nimbly taking parts of it off to inspect and repair the damage done during their disastrous excuse for a battle. Seeming to think better of it, he leaves the helmet and goes back to Baymax, hands reaching to grab at the chip port.

         "Hiro...please, calm down and talk to me."

         "Not now," he grumbles, eyebrow twitching as he attempts to open the port over and over, to no avail.

         "No, you know what?" Her patience seems to snap cleanly at that point, her frustration seeping into her face and voice. "This is happening - right now. Get over here and _talk to me_!"

         "Yeah, well I'm kinda busy right now!" He snaps right back at her, only sparing a glare before turning back to the robot, now pulling incessantly at the port that still refuses to open. "Baymax, come on! Let. Me. In!" Each failed attempt at forcing it open only served to make him angrier.

         "Are you going to remove my healthcare chip?"

         " _Yes_ , now open up!"

         "Will terminating Professor Callaghan improve your emotional state?"

         "Yes! Wait- No, I mean-" He pulls again at the port. "We have to get him!"

 

         "Hiro!"

         "Kii!"

 

         He screams furiously as he turns back to his friend, all of the anger and despair that wasn't the type able to be healed by magic boiling up and bursting from him. Heaving lungfuls of air and eyes watering against his control, he finally manages to really _look_ at her.

         She stares back at him, the slightly more downturned grimace and furrow in her brows and eyes more wide than normal the only true signs of her own negative feelings slipping through the cracks of her mask; her mask of a more calm, controlled anger. Was it only in his imagination that her eyes seemed more hallowed and dark than they were supposed to be? Was she looking a little pale, or was it just the poor lighting of early night? Did she always look this _tired_?

         He felt his anger toward her die almost immediately, replaced by exhaustion and a slight confusion.

         "Kii," he sighs, drooping until stumbles off of the ladder to face her properly.

         "I...I'm sorry...I just..."

         Any explanation for his poor behavior is cut off as she slowly steps forward and practically falls into him, head landing on his shoulder and arms curling tightly around him.

         "...Kii?"

         The arms only tighten their hold, and he awkwardly reminds himself how to hug a person back as he feels warm tears reach the uncovered spots of his neck.

         "H-Hey..."

         He begins to pat her back gently, and he feels more than hears her laugh a little under her breath. They stay like that for a minute, the electric atmosphere in the room easing away into a calm sea. It was almost enough to make him drift into sleep, until she shifts her head slightly.

         "Hiro, I need to tell you something," she whispers.

         "Yeah?" He keeps his voice down too, still running a hand up and down her shoulder.

         "But I need you to answer a question first."

         "...Yeah, sure. Anything."

         Her head moves until she's looking at him face-to-face, eyes dark and blank - not at all like usual. The incredibly close proximity alongside this anomaly makes him a little nervous, but he says nothing, afraid of interrupting whatever it is she wants to say.

 

         "I promised to take care of you. Did I do a good job?"

 

         The sheer oddity of this question nearly makes his brain short-circuit. What kind of question was that? What was even happening? Was he even awake right now? He couldn't even remember her making such a promise to him, ever. Where on Earth was any of this coming from?

         "I...Yeah," he finally answers. "Of course you did a good job- the best job. You always have."

         She smiles, more tears coming out.

         He's startled by this, and even more so when her face begins to move in closer. For a moment, he thinks she's about to kiss him, but she only rests her forehead against his, closing her eyes and still smiling.

         "I'm so glad."

         She seems so relieved that he actually begins to question if there was ever a time that she hadn't been right there to protect and help him; he can't think of a single instance.

         "What's...What's wrong?"

         She stills, and her eyes crack open, boring into his so strongly that he catches himself about to flinch away.

         "I want you to promise me something."

         Okay, this was just getting scary.

         "Kii?"

         "Please promise me that you'll keep going."

         "...I- Keep going? What?"

         Her arms tighten further, her eyes desperate and unblinking and widening almost maddeningly.

         "Please, Hiro. I need to know that you'll keep going."

         He tries to back away, but she won't let him. The grip she has on him is almost suffocating, and he begins to sweat, heart beating rapidly in his chest and lungs struggling for deeper breaths.

         "I- I promise! I promise I'll keep going, but- I- After _what?_ "

 

         Her grip loosens and her face calms back into it's former blank slate. Face still pressed up against his, she lifts her left hand, a small light flashing slightly before disappearing.

         "I haven't been telling the truth lately."

         Shifting his face to look, he feels everything within him drop straight to his feet.

 

 

         "...Kii..."

         "I love you, Hiro."

 

 

         Her Soul Gem cracks until it shatters completely, unleashing waves upon waves of powerful energy, sending Hiro and Baymax flying backward into the garage.

         As he forces himself to sit up against the torrent, he can only barely make out her body crumpling to the floor, and the dark, sharp shape of her Grief Seed taking form.

 

         " ** _KII!_** "

 

* * *

 

         The team eagerly walked onward toward the Hamada home, nearing it with only a building urgency and a small USB drive. A loud explosion as they round the block, however, nearly sent them hurtling back to where they came from. Wasabi's shrieks as he feels someone crashing directly into him quickly turn into something of a tired whine, carefully picking both himself and Fred off of the ground.

         "Oh man, what _now_?"

         Against the dying, though still powerful current, Tadashi shakes himself off and frantically motions for everyone to do the same.

         "They might be in danger, we have to get to them!"

         About to sprint the rest of the way down the road, he and everyone else is caught off-guard when a wave of colors rushes through, surrounding them in a chaotic blend of nonsensical patterns and lights. Skittering along in the opposite direction they were heading is a group of small, bouncing cartoon stars, flashing occasionally with light and with outlines, sketched and messy.

         "Hey...isn't this one of those..." Gogo glances around before worriedly facing Tadashi, who begins to feel himself shake.

 

         "...No...No no no..." He's whipping his head around to take in everything before he turns on his rocket boosters. "Let's go!"

 

         Flying off before they can even answer, he's down the road in the blink of an eye. The rapidly approaching sight of his brother sitting there and holding something in the middle of it all,  _safe and in one piece_ , makes him slow to a stop, stumbling over his feet to collapse next to him and sweep his gaze over him. He realizes that Baymax is there too, waddling over to be of service, and he begins to calm, but only momentarily, as he suddenly spots what Hiro has been holding.

         In his thin, shaking arms lay the body of Kii, limp and perfectly still, eyes closed. She looked to be sleeping, but no breath could be seen.

         Hiro's trembling, he notices, jumping when another group of stars comes to dance around them.

         "B-Back!" He summons his rocket launcher, somehow able to wave it one-handed, and violently. "Back off! Leave her alone!"

         The stars merely sparkle and dance away, leaving them be, and soon the entire Labyrinth follows them, rushing off in waves just as quickly as it had come, off to another part of town to settle itself into a proper trap. Tadashi turns back to his brother and carefully moves in, hands up and keeping his voice low.

         "Hiro..."

         He flinches and clutches the body tighter to him, a heavy shudder passing through his small body. Coming up just behind them, they can hear gasps and murmurs.

         "Scanning. Scan complete." Baymax turns his head to his creator, almost gravely. "I am not detecting signs of life."

         A sharp cry tears out of Hiro's throat, and Tadashi quickly holds a hand up to Baymax to stop him from speaking any further.

         "Hiro," he tries again, slowly and gently placing his hands on his shoulders. "Hiro, talk to me. What happened?"

         The only answer he receives comes in a small whimper, and Hiro slumps over to bury himself in his friend, body quivering with a low cry.

 

         They eventually manage to coax Hiro into going inside, but only after backing off and promising not to touch her. With a bit of a struggle, and under their watchful eyes, he does manage to carry her along with him, propped up by his shoulder and arms, and he lays her reverently on the couch in the now windswept garage.

         "...What do you want to do now?"

         Hiro looks up at him after a little while of silence, eyes red and tired, but with a steely determination nonetheless.

         "She made me promise to keep going, so that's what I'm gonna do. And then, I'm going to find a way to help her," he turns his head back to keep watch over her. "There _has_ to be a way. I'll figure something out, somehow."

         Nobody points out the obvious fact that it was much too late to save her, that there was no reviving her, and nobody makes any move to otherwise argue.

         "I- Oh man, guys," he suddenly turns with a look of horror. "I...I just left you there- I'm _so_ sorry-"

         Tadashi grabs and pulls him into a hug, shushing him. Soon, it's turned into a group hug as each of the others joins in, Baymax included. A low, semi-relieved breathy laugh makes its way through the group, and Hiro silently thinks to himself that perhaps everything might just turn out okay in the end. He felt almost completely safe, almost completely secure. He felt forgiven, and he thinks that from here on, things would be better between him and Tadashi; between him and everyone.

         They pull back, straightening themselves up, and Honey Lemon clears her throat to speak up, holding up the USB.

         "We found something back at the base that you're gonna wanna see."

 

         Gathered round the computer, they watch as a video recording from the day of the accident is played, showing Professor Callaghan and the test pilot talking, seemingly friendly with each other. As she prepares to get in, they hug tightly, and it's then that Hiro finally notices her name tag.

         "Wait- Zoom in on that."

         They do, and it reads Callaghan.

         "Callaghan's daughter..."

         "This is a _revenge_ story," Fred realizes.

         "He used your microbots to go back to the base to the other portal," Honey starts.

         "He must be trying to get her back...and he might be planning on going after Krei," Hiro finishes, looking up at them urgently. "We have to stop him."

         "Krei's heading some sort of opening ceremony for his Institute in a few days, he's probably gonna go after him then." Tadashi seems sure of this, and so Hiro nods.

         "Then we'll need to start planning."

 

* * *

 

 

         Tadashi walks quietly through the doorway, watching Hiro's turned back for a moment - watches as he his Soul Gem glows, enveloping the body before him in a soft light, keeping it warm - before walking over. This doesn't seem to phase him; his brother speaks without looking over, keeping his gaze firmly on his subject.

         "She knew she was getting close, but she used her last Grief Seed on me instead."

         The older can only nod.

         "She did."

         More silence follows, and it almost feels like time has stopped for them. The room around them feels almost suffocating in its stillness, and it feels like he may drown. Hiro's Soul Gem vanishes, and he still doesn't look over.

         "She did that to save me. The least I can do is try to save her too."

 

         Another moment passes, and Tadashi finds himself nodding again.

         "I understand that."

 

         And when Hiro leaves to go looking for another Witch to grab a Grief Seed from, he dutifully stands guard over the fallen girl who kept her promise to him, and finds that he really does understand his brother. At least, he understands so much more now.

         Hiro is not a little boy anymore. He's growing up, so quickly and so strong, and this doesn't have to be a bad thing, he thinks.

         Not to say this whole Magical Girl business was expected or even remotely a good thing - he glances down at a very much deceased girl as he thinks this - but he supposes that it is what it is, and at the very least, he thinks Hiro and he will be able to trust each other from this point going forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're very close to the end, my friends
> 
> was her love romantic? I don't think so, but I guess you can make the call on that for yourself


	10. I Was Really Happy ❙それはとっても嬉しいなって❙

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg I'm so sorry this took me so long!! I was super busy on and off [and will continue to be quite busy for the next couple of months OTL] but here it is! ahhhh please forgive me!!! I hope this chapter's alright xux

 

          The full team - well, nearly full, at least - walks the desolate streets of midtown San Fransokyo in tense silence. Upon Tadashi's back, the limp and noticeably cooled body of a girl so full of life only the day before. Hiro leads the way, the light in the palm of his hand surrounded in the spinning quiver of the unique signature to a Witch, lying in wait somewhere close by. As they turn yet another corner, he notes with a combination of relief and dismay that the signature has become even stronger. She had to be around here, somewhere.

          Stopping suddenly, he snaps his head around to face a very particular building just across the street, and one by one, the rest of the group stops to join him.

          "Is that it over there?"

          Gogo points at a spot on the building's wall, next to the main entryway, and they cross the street to look closer. Crackling occasionally with small bursts of energy, like mini lightning strikes, they at last find a Grief Seed, planted firmly into the brick.

          "Hiro, isn't this...?" Tadashi looks up, adjusting his grip and observing the building itself.

          "Of course it'd be here." Hiro nods and swallows, feeling a firm lump in his throat, and glances to his left.

 

          "Where else would she wanna go but home, right?"

          They look away from each other as this sinks in, jumping slightly when another crackle loudly rips through the air with a greater urgency. Left with no other choice but to move on ahead, they one by one enter the Barrier.

 

          The atmosphere inside is much calmer than they initially expect, almost tranquil in a way. The darkness encasing this world swirls around them slowly, the 'ceiling' appearing to house thousands of stars in its own version of the night sky, and another layer between them and the stars of calmly moving ripples makes it almost appear as if they are standing underwater.

          "It's beautiful..." Honey Lemon's voice, though quiet, echos through the room, coming back to them in soft waves before falling silent once more.

          Scattered across the ground in large piles, forming a clear path into more darkness, lay glittering rocks and crystals of all shapes and sizes, almost glowing. Amongst them, various bits and pieces of what seem to be from cars, broken up into each individual part and thrown in. Tadashi shivers, clutching tighter to his cargo.

          "Let's go."

          Following the path laid out before them, they follow it into the dark, though it always seems to be kept at bay by the stars and the glow of the path itself. After a few minutes, Wasabi turns to look in the direction of where they came from, seeing only darkness, the entrance now completely gone from sight. He lightly groans in dismay and hurries his pace to keep up with his friends, yelping and jumping behind Gogo when something skitters quickly past them. Hiro spins on his heel and has his weapon drawn in record time.

          "What was that?!"

          "I don't know," Hiro carefully steps forward in case it jumps out at them. "Probably one of her Familiars."

          "I am unable to scan this life-form. This room appears to be interfering with my scanner." Baymax seems almost disappointed, tilting his head at where it disappeared to.

          "It's alright, Baymax," Honey Lemon lays a comforting hand on the robot's back, smiling encouragingly.

          "I thought they were harmless little stars!" Wasabi quivers, Gogo standing up straighter as if to protect him. After a few seconds of nothing more from the creature, Hiro puts his bazooka away and turns to move on.

          "They usually have a couple of different kinds; it's more rare to see one with only one type," he explains, still looking straight ahead as they walk. "I'm sure they don't want to hurt us - Kii doesn't have a mean bone in her body."

          "She wasn't a Witch before, though," Gogo points out reluctantly. "From what I've seen of these things, they don't turn out like they were before."

          Tadashi glances at his little brother, who only continues to quietly stare forward.

          Hiro doesn't say any more until they reach a large door of stained glass, tall and menacing, looking down at them through it's panels of sharp dyed glass of purples and blacks and, more unsettling, reds that almost appear to symbolize blood spatter spraying out from the bottom.

          "Yeah, okay, I'm _definitely_ not liking the looks of this." Wasabi and Hiro move oppositely, Wasabi strategically placing himself at the very back to hide behind the rest of the group, and Hiro stepping forward to peer through the door, eyes screwed up in concentration.

          "See anything?" Tadashi adjusts his grip again.

          He sighs and takes a couple of steps back, summoning the bazooka once more and straightening himself up.

          "No, but I'm positive she's about to hatch in-"

          "Oh no," Baymax is the first to spot it, cutting Hiro off when they spot a rapidly growing light on the other side of the door.

 

          "Get ready!"

 

          Everyone drops closer to the ground, and up goes a shield, just as the door is completely shattered, blasting millions of pieces of glass straight at them and tearing deeply into their surroundings, nearly destroying everything in it's path. As the dust just begins to finally settle, and a new door slams into place behind them to block any exit, they pull themselves up and face the horrifying reality before them.

          The room was large and cavernous, the walls greatly resembling a giant birdcage, seeming to trap all it's occupants while providing them only a glimpse at the freedom beyond, surrounding them in the endlessness of outer space with it's stars twinkling far, far away from them. The ground was similar to the path that lead to it, a circle of both crystals and car parts piled on top of each other. Wrapped around the outside of the cage, they notice, are chains, as if to provide an extra layer of security and ensure that nothing ever got in or out.

          Protective, Tadashi notes suddenly, and he looks despairingly over his shoulder into Kii's face. A Witch's Barrier, he now notices, must reflect the nature of their wish and the emotion behind it, easily explaining the destroyed cars littering it.

          Kneeling over itself in the middle of this is a gangly, stick-like figure. Slowly, seeming to just notice that it's not alone, it drags itself up by it's arms, torn and faded fabric draped over them, to face it's new guests. Although he knew very well that Witches did not resemble their human bodies in any way, Hiro still has to fight the overwhelming threat of tears as he's faced with all that remains of his beloved partner's soul.

          She's humanoid in only the loosest sense of the word, more of a tall skeletal monster, thin and looking more like a doll made up of sticks, really. Her face cannot be seen - it's wrapped tightly with a roll of well-worn bandages, or perhaps ribbon, and from beneath this, her hair falls beyond floor length, unkempt and thin, like long, delicate strips of black thread. Her 'clothing' consists of a dirty and torn kimono, falling off of her frame in almost paper thin sheets of fabric, and exposing her chest cavity - open and nearly hollow, clearly showcasing a blackened, barely beating heart, wrapped and held up inside of her only by a length of red thread. With a gurgling groan, she reaches her arms up almost in greeting to them all, her 'hands' made up of broken knives and swords.

          He's still staring silently only at her, when he hears a sound from just above. Gaze shooting up, he reaches automatically to herd his group away.

          "Look out!"

          Falling to the ground in a heap, a loud boom sounds as they look up, only to find a smaller cage having just fallen to rest where they were just standing.

          "Oh no."

          Unfortunately, without his suit, Baymax still moved at a slower pace without assistance, now unable to join them further.

          "I appear to be trapped." He looks around, finding no exit, but aside from this, he appears completely unharmed, allowing the group at least some peace of mind. Hiro jumps up and starts helping the others to their feet.

          "Be careful and watch the ceiling!"

          Pulling Fred up by his hand, he quickly turns his focus to the Witch, stumbling forward until he's standing a few feet away, looking up at her to plead his case.

          "Kii, it's me, Hiro! Can you hear me?"

          She merely tilts her head and reaches an arm up, swinging it down and sending another cage hurtling down straight for him. He dodges it just barely and gets up again.

          "Kii, it's okay, I'm here to _help_ you!"

          She keeps her nonexistent eyes on him, following his every movement while swiping at him with her incredibly dangerous hands. After one particularly close-call, he has to throw himself to the group to roll out of her way. Missing another swipe, he turns to call out to his brother.

          "Tadashi, her body!"

          Scrambling out of the way of another cage, he kneels to switch her from his back to his arms, jogging toward and holding on tightly to show the Witch. The only plan Hiro had come in with and absolutely insisted on was to make her remember who she was, perhaps somehow reversing the process. About three-quarters of the way there, the falling of another cage shook the ground enough to trip him up and send him falling, Kii's limp form toppling over with him, coming to rest in the space between himself and the monster, sprawled out as though an offering.

          For a few, tense moments, all was silent, save for the low sounds of the world around them and it's creator, occasionally shifting or emitting a soft growl - or was that a whimper? A small cry? Hiro stares down at his friend in a panic, head then swiveling to see a reaction from her other self, if any were to even be made.

          This had to work, this just _had_ to.

          Right?

 

          The Witch does nothing - only stares, and sways slowly in place.

          Nothing is happening.

          Hiro's heart plummets to his feet, and he begins to shake his head, slowly at first, and then profusely. He takes a step back and runs his hands through his hair.

          "No...No, come on! Kii...Please..." He looks up again and pleads.

          The Witch only tilts her head and remains silent, still.

          The rest of the group shares varied looks of disappointment, slumping in defeat.

 

          As Tadashi climbs back up onto his feet and walks over, he too shakes his head sadly. Laying a hand on his brother's shoulder, he gently pulls him back toward him.

          "...It'll be okay, Hiro..."

          He keeps his voice soft, close to a whisper, and he doesn't quite believe his own words, even as he continues forcing them out of his throat.

          "...Hiro...It'll be okay..."

 

          "...Hey, can I ask you something?"

 

          Hiro startles at the far away, grainy sound of his own voice, and all heads whip around until they spot the source of the noise - Baymax.

          Upon his chest, a video recording is playing, and looking closely, they realize it is of one of the nights they spent designing and making their suits. The rest of the group must have stepped out for a while, as it's only Hiro and Kii in the room besides Baymax himself. Kii turns and smiles, leaning back against a table and tilting her head.

          "'Course you can. What's up?"

          Hiro has to hold back the choke of tears as he hears her voice, clear and happy and _alive_ , and he holds back another choke as he very suddenly remembers exactly how that night went. His recorded counterpart shifts and glances over at her, seeming nervous.

          "...Do you ever think that...maybe Witches can be...I dunno, _healed_? Like...turned back to human, I mean."

          Kii seems startled at first by this question, then sighs through her nose and starts to walk over, closer to him.

          "Hiro, I...I know you don't like...getting rid of them," she starts out, laying a hand on his shoulder much in the way his brother was now.

          "But the thing is...once a Soul Gem gets to that point..." she shakes her head slowly. "...There's really no going back. Once it's done...We can't fix them, Hiro. We can only shorten their suffering as much as possible."

          The Hiro from the past takes a moment to let it sink in, and sighs, nodding.

          "Yeah...I know, I just-" He looks up at her, seemingly slightly panicked. "What if _you-_ "

          "If anything ever _does_ happen to me," she cuts him off gently. "I know I can trust you to take care of me. I know you would do anything to make it better, but I also know that you understand that this is just what happens." She squeezes his shoulder comfortingly and smiles.

          "And I know you wouldn't let me suffer."

          He's quiet for a moment, then shakes his head resolutely.

          "Never."

          The video cuts out, and Baymax stares ahead plainly as his chest fades back to normal.

 

 

 

          Tadashi jumps back and lets his hand fall as Hiro's rocket launcher is suddenly summoned. Looking back up at his face, he only sees blankness, even as tears fall from his eyes, carefully concealing an incredibly desperate sadness underneath.

          Spinning around on one foot, he makes quick work of his setup, morphing his weapon into a large cannon, pointing directly at the Witch.

          Tadashi wants to speak, to ask Hiro if he's absolutely sure if he wants to be the one to do this - if they can't just find some other Magical Girl, a stranger to step in and take care of it for them, but he knows only a split second later that it's wasted breath. This was Hiro's duty - it had to be him, nobody else.

          He merely rests his hands on his shoulders, a silent support as Hiro charges the cannon with everything he has.

          As the beam builds and builds and becomes almost too much to keep their eyes open for, and as the rest shield their eyes and braces themselves for the impending explosion, Tadashi can hear his brother whisper only three words.

          "I'm sorry, Kii."

 

          The cannon goes off.

 

 

          After the sound dies down into a total silence, and the light is no longer absolutely blinding, Tadashi realizes that he can no longer feel Hiro. Forcing his eyes open - when did he close them? - he finds that they are floating in the decimated room, everything around them quickly breaking down more and more as the Witch presumably dies. He sees Hiro about 15 feet up ahead, clinging to Kii's human body like a lifeline.

          Slowly, he lets go of her, and watches her float away from him, gradually disappearing into the dark void as the last of the world around them collapses into nothing.

          Tadashi thinks he sees her eyes open, staring back at them just one last time, but that had to be just a trick of the light.

 

 

 

          When they're standing back in front of the apartment building, on solid ground and during an otherwise completely normal night, they kneel down to comfort Hiro, as he sits on the ground, finally dissolving into tears,and  clutching the Grief Seed in his hands in what reminds them of praying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there will be one more main chapter after this, and then an epilogue to wrap things up completely!


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